June 24, 2025
In Mexican culture, La Catrina is a female skeleton that is a ubiquitous symbol for the Day of the Dead festival, when people dress up, party, feast, and remember loved ones who have died. It is also the name and inspiration for a terrific new Mexican restaurant in Bantam.
Opened in September 2024 by husband-and-wife team Enrique and Consuelo Estrada, La Catrina of Bantam is not your typical Mexican restaurant. To be sure, it does offer excellent margaritas, guacamole, and burritos, but chef Enrique has worked hard to infuse his own Asian-inspired spin on his dishes. For one appetizer, he takes shredded chicken with a classic mole sauce, and wraps it in pillowy, handmade bao buns.
Equally innovative are his Asian duck tacos with hoisin barbecue sauce, spicy guacamole, and pico de gallo, served on a wonton shell; or the crispy calamari served with salted peanuts, cilantro, and sweet-and-spicy Thai habanero sauce.
One of La Catrina’s most popular dishes is a miso-glazed salmon with stir-fried vegetables and crispy edamame dumplings. On the other end of the culinary spectrum, they also make a mean half-pound burger with caramelized onions, Gruyere cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickle, fries, and chipotle mayo on toasted potato bun. It is also worth mentioning that the bar offers more than 20 different tequilas.
I would be remiss if I did not also praise their more traditional fare. The cochinita pibil—braised pork shoulder with pickled red onions and soft tortillas—is one of my favorite Mexican dishes, and I highly recommend it. Also worth trying are the Sopa Azteca: shredded chicken and crispy tortilla soup with cotija cheese, crema fresca, avocado, and ancho chile (served in handmade bowls shaped like La Catrina herself); the flounder al pastor, with organic red quinoa, corn esquites, and orange beurre blanc; and the shrimp and octopus ceviche.
Much of the quite beautiful crockery was sourced by Consuelo in Mexico. She is also responsible for the dramatically colorful décor, which, unsurprisingly, prominently features many iterations of La Catrina.
“I started in the restaurant business in 1993, washing dishes,” says Enrique. “I never had any formal training, but I worked my way up.” He spent much of his career working for restaurant management group Fort Pond Bay Company, which operates restaurants in Westchester and Long Island. “But my real love for cooking came from being in the kitchen with my mother when I was a boy. When we opened La Catrina, I wanted to combine my experience with basic Mexican recipes from my childhood.”
What drew the Estradas to Litchfield County in the first place? “I wanted to open my own place; we knew Westchester, so we were going to go there. But then some friends of ours who live here introduced us to the area, and we fell in love with it.”
The restaurant is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, and for brunch on the weekend. La Catrina of Bantam, 810 Bantam Road.—lacatrinabantam.com
