About Latin Food and Cafe

Alex Cruz, now the owner of Alex Latin Cafe, and his sister Nelsy Cruz, at the advice of their mother, Doña Fredes Cruz, opened Latin Food in 2012 with one goal in mind. They wanted to bring the native cuisine of Honduras, their home country, to diners in Louisiana.

Mama Doña Fredes started something money can’t buy – the LATIN tradition

Welcome to where it all began: This is The Original Latin Food and Cafe.

When Mama Doña Fredes first began cooking and grilling skirt steak then placing the sizzling meat in a handmade flour tortilla in their native country Honduras. It was her idea after traveling from Miami and an over-saturated Latin market to Northeast Louisiana, where the introduction of Latin Food made a mark!

She had no idea she had jumpstarted a culinary revolution. After leaving Honduras in 2003 and settling in Miami, Mama Doña Fredes was always cooking to take care of her children – and provide her beloved family & community with mouthwatering comfort food along the way. After recognizing an opportunity in Northeast Louisiana, she relocated to West Monroe in 2009.

The special dishes she created were Honduran Dinner, Pork Chops, Chicken, and Beef Ciebeno, and more, which the whole world would eventually come to know as Latin Food and Cafe. Mama Doña Fredes still actively prepares her signature dishes and her legacy of faith, family, friends, and fierce Latin cooking skills continues to this day.

A Thomas Scott Award-winning semifinalist in 2019, The Original Latin Food and Cafe masterfully combines a commitment to comfort and tradition with a sense of culinary adventure, all helmed today by Executive Chef Mama Doña Fredes Cruz.

Casual and fun, yet historic and elevated, The Original Latin Food and Cafe offers the best Latin food in Northeast Louisiana.