Miranda's Cafe - 1402 Lenox Avenue, Utica

Juan Miranda opened Miranda’s Café on Feb. 14 with the goal of bringing more jobs to Utica and having diverse menu options.

Juan Miranda (left), his son Brian, and his wife Lisseth operate the restaurant as a family. (Emily Kenny/Spectrum News 1)

“I decided to make my own business because the population in Utica is immigrants, and I want to create more jobs for people and take kids away from the streets,” Miranda said.  

Miranda opted for a multicultural menu, serving Latin, Italian and American food.

Customers eat at Miranda's Cafe. (Emily Kenny/Spectrum News 1)

“For the Latin menu, I have, which is extremely popular, a chicken burrito, steak burrito, steak nacho, chicken quesadilla,” Miranda said. “On the Italian menu, I have shrimp scampi, lasagna, potato gnocchi, and I also have an antipasto salad.”

The antipasto salad from Miranda's Cafe. (Emily Kenny/Spectrum News 1)

The American menu, Miranda said, is burgers, fries, steak and cheese sandwiches, and other traditional American dishes.  

“My priority is to bring customers in and make sure they can eat good so they are full and can take some home,” he said.  

Lisseth serves customers while Brian retrieves a food order from the kitchen in Miranda's Cafe. (Emily Kenny/Spectrum News 1)

Tierras Tropicales – 1300 Whitesboro St., Utica

Utica’s first Ecuadorian restaurant, Tierras Tropicales, opened in January by Nube Rivera and Franklin Gutierrez.  

Rivera and Gutierrez are new to the restaurant business, but wanted to bring more Spanish food to Utica, where Hispanics make up 12.9% of the population, according to the 2020 Census.

Seating in Tierras Tropicales. (Emily Kenny/Spectrum News 1)

“It’s his dream, he wanted to bring something new to Utica,” Rivera said. “We’ve been here eight years, and at first when we would go out to look for a Spanish place to eat, we didn’t have any.”  

Rivera said many Ecuadorians have visited the restaurant in its first few months.

Nube (left) and Franklin stand for a portrait in their restaurant. (Emily Kenny/Spectrum News 1)

“When we just opened, they came from Rome, New Hartford, Clinton, I was thinking it would just be people we know, but no, it was a lot of people from places 25 to 30 minutes from here,” Rivera said. “They were so excited and happy to try it.”  

Ecuador has different landscapes including a coast and mountains, so the dishes vary among seafood, beef, chicken, vegetables and rice.

The menu from Tierras Tropicales. (Emily Kenny/Spectrum News 1)

“We want everyone to know that they can come here and try some of the Ecuadorian dishes that we offer,” Rivera said. “Everything is good but especially the seafood, which is a specialty from our country.”  

Their seafood dishes include sopa de mariscos which is seafood soup, ceviche and fried calamari.