When Santa Catarina co-owner Jesus Hernandez moved to the U.S. from Mexico to attend The University of Texas, he said he worked in restaurants to put himself through school and practice English.

“A lot of the influence for my cooking came from my hometown,” he said.

Santa Catarina Francisco Cortez co-owns both Santa Catarina locations with his cousin Jesus Hernandez.[/caption]

Co-owner Francisco Cortez grew up in the same town and moved to the U.S. in the 1980s. He helped his mother and grandmother in Mexico cook in a taco stand and cater weddings, and he said cooking is his passion.

Cousins Hernandez and Cortez wanted to open a restaurant serving central Mexican cuisine, and in 2010 they opened the Santa Catarina Lakeway location.

“Success took a couple years,” Hernandez said. “People were used to Tex-Mex, so it took some time for them to understand the different type of food.”

Hernandez and Cortez opened the second location in Cedar Park in June 2016. Hernandez said they want to open at least three or four more in the Austin area.

The two said Santa Catarina’s food can best be described as regional interior Mexican food, which is different than Tex-Mex and food along the border.

“We don’t buy mixes, and everything is fresh and made from scratch,” Hernandez said. “We use a lot of herbs, while Tex-Mex uses more seasoning. Our food is a lot easier to digest.”

He said cheese is used as more of an ingredient than a topping, and at Santa Catarina, only the highest-quality cheese, steak and other products are used. The bar is also sugar-f

Santa Catarina The Coctel de Camarones includes gulf shrimp tossed with tomato sauce, onions, tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro, olive oil, vinegar and salsa valentina, and is served with totopos chips ($12).[/caption]

ree—mixed drinks are made with 100 percent organic agave nectar and fresh juices.

“In Mexico our culture is if you come to my house, I’m going to treat you with the best—with food and with care,” Hernandez said. “That’s exactly what we try to do at Santa Catarina. We want to give the best food to our guests, and we treat them like family when they come to our restaurant—we treat them like they were coming to our house.”