Mercado on Fifth's Food Favorites
Mercado on Fifth is a night market located in Moline’s downtown that hosts a variety of food and retail vendors during the summer months. The festival-like atmosphere lines Moline’s 5th Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets with street vendors, live music, dance performances and children’s activities to create a unique family friendly environment unlike any other every Friday night from May to October.
During Mercado on Fifth’s off season, be sure to venture around the Quad Cities to try a few local favorites that are unique to these establishments.
At Los Charros Mexican Restaurant located in East Moline, you will find enchiladas potosinas. This dish originated in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and consists of handmade corn tortillas infused with a red chile sauce, filled with cheese and topped with goat cheese and chopped onion. Pair your enchiladas with black beans, a guacamole sauce and coffee. Yes, we really said coffee.
You can also find Carne en su Jugo, a concentrated flavorful broth of beef meat finely diced with freshly cooked beans and crispy bacon topped with chopped onions, cilantro, avocado slices, lime and optional chile de arbol at La Rancherita 1 or 2 located in Rock Island and Moline. Be sure to try empanadas. These fried or baked corn pastries are shaped like a crescent moon, stuffed with your choice of beef, chicken, cheese, veggie, spicy ham, potato or chorizo can be found at Nally’s Kitchen in Davenport.
Mercado on Fifth is also working on turning a former Car Shop located just north of the outdoor market area in Moline’s Floreciente neighborhood into a new indoor space to be used for Mercado’s own activities, educational workshops, and expand its vendor opportunities year-round. The building’s 6,300-square-foot indoor space will also feature a 5,000-square-foot outdoor plaza.
Mercado on Fifth has been at the forefront of driving economic activity in the Quad Cities region, having helped develop over 20 new minority-owned businesses since 2017.
They also unveiled a new outdoor sign in September that spells out Mercado in giant monumental letters. Similar to the signs found all over Mexico, each letter has a different symbolic meaning that includes references to the Floreciente neighborhood, Mexican culture, and the Mexican state of Guanajuanto where Moline’s sister city, Salvatierra, is located and where a large percentage of the Latino community in the Floreciente neighborhood were from originally.”
When Mercado on Fifth starts up again in the summer, you won’t want to miss these food favorites.
You will find one of a kind foods starting with fresh fruit water made by Aguas Frescas Camila. This vendor provides a variety of refreshing flavored waters made from traditional family recipes. You will find flavors like watermelon, hibiscus, tamarind, pineapple, and melon. You can also find mouth-watering super nachos from El Tesoro. This secret family recipe consists of a bed of tortilla chips topped with beans, taco meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese sauce and optional jalapenos to add spice. Pair your nachos with a taco de canasta or “basket tacos” stuffed with chorizo, potato, beans, or pork rinds garnished with coleslaw and a vegetable vinegar salad from Tacos al Vapor.
Don't forget about dessert!
Be sure to try Coya Cafe’s signature Mercado Virgin Pina Colada, this unique beverage is served inside of a pineapple and makes for a fun refreshment. You will not be disappointed with the array of traditional foods and authentic cuisine at Mercado on Fifth, you will also find an assortment of unique artifacts, traditional clothing, and handmade jewelry.
Anamaria Rocha, Mercado on Fifth Director, is a proud Quad Citizen who loves her culture and loves helping the people in the Latino community shine.