(This venue is closed.) Catrachos like caracoles. "Catrachos" is a common name for natives of Honduras, and "caracoles" — in Spanish, literally "snails" — signifies conch, or perhaps whelk. The coconut-milk aroma of sopa de caracol (weekends only, $14) was apparent even before my bowl hit the table.
Though the soup is also prepared with the snail's own juices, the color and mildly peppery flavor might come from annatto, staining most recognizable ingredients — yuca, green plantain, onion — the same orange as the chewy shellfish. Compare this greenish rendition from the former La Orquidea.
Los Catrachos Restaurant
125 Beach St. (Van Duzer-Jackson Sts.), Stapleton, Staten Island
718-448-4820
