A New Restaurant is Opening in Elmira
ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY) -- A new Dominican, Puerto Rican fusion restaurant is opening its doors on April 5. The owner of Boricana, Crystal Moran, says she has been preparing for her new restaurant since 2020. Moran and her fiancé, Anddy Reynoso, wanted to bring the community together in their family-oriented restaurant.
“We decided, after many years of people begging us for us to do this, to go out and adventure it,” she said.
Moran came up with the name of the restaurant with her fiancé. She said they wanted to incorporate their ethnic backgrounds.
“'He was just playing around with names, sitting in the kitchen and was like 'Oh, we should just name it Boricana,' and it just stuck with us,” she said.
Moran has been dreaming of opening up a restaurant since she was a little girl.
“I've cooked since I was 9-years-old, I have a son who loves to cook...so we decided...let's do it,” she said. “I've always wanted to open up a restaurant so it was something like 'let's go...it's time.'”
Moran said her restaurant emphasizes family. She said her mother, aunt, sisters and her husband-to-be will all be working together.
“It's a huge family restaurant...is what we want to say...it's family-oriented,” she said. “We want people to walk in and be like, 'Oh, this is homey...oh this is...I feel very comfortable coming in here.'”
Moran said they are going to start small with the menu and build it up. She said it will contain traditional Puerto Rican and Dominican foods.
“We have stew...beef stew, chicken stew, roast pork, yellow rice with beans, plain rice, we have some white rice, we have beans on the side,” she said. “You know, some people don't like beans in their meal.”
Moran said she feels an overwhelming amount of support from the community.
“We have a number of supporters, like, it's crazy...the supporters from not only in Elmira...Corning, Horseheads, Ithaca...everywhere,” she said.
Boricana opens on April 5th. Their business hours are from Tuesday through Saturday, from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. The restaurant is located at 456 W Washington Ave. in Elmira.
