Siblings Lucas and Alejandra García-Nieto travel to Spain every day without boarding a plane. They do it each time they open a can of berberechos, slice a piece of jamón ibérico, or make themselves a Cola Cao the way they had it for breakfast as children in Madrid. The trip starts at 957 Avenida Fernández Juncos, in Miramar. In this culinary adventure, which begins at Cátame Gourmet, anyone can come along.
All it takes is bringing home some gildas and a can of Kas de limón to mix with red wine for a tinto de verano. Add a can of mejillones en escabeche for dipping bread, and the table tastes like Galicia. Take home a bottle of txakoli white wine and you can transport yourself to the home of Asador Etxebarri (Vizcaya, País Vasco), named in November as the best restaurant in the world on the The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2026 list.
Six months after opening, Cátame received the Colmados from Spain quality certificate. It is awarded by Foods and Wines from Spain, the program of the Instituto Español de Comercio Exterior (ICEX), and recognizes stores outside Spain for their selection and promotion of Spanish products. With the seal, which is now displayed on a plaque inside the store, Cátame joined the program's official directory of certified colmados, the only one on the Island.
✈️ The trip in reverse
In 2011, the siblings made the trip in reverse: they left Madrid and landed in Puerto Rico. The family came for their mother's job, which had nothing to do with food, and the plan was to stay a short time. "We came with the idea of one year," recalls Alejandra, 26. "That multiplied into 15 years," she tells Platea.
When they arrived on the Island, they missed their staples. "Cátame comes from the idea of bringing Spanish products that, when we were kids and arrived in Puerto Rico, we didn't have," Lucas says.
Alejandro García-Nieto, their father, has spent nearly a decade importing Spanish products for supermarkets, stores and restaurants on the Island. They asked themselves: "Why not create our own space to fill with the products we already had?"
Cátame opened Nov. 24, 2025, with Alejandro as founder and owner. Lucas and Alejandra run the store alongside Luis and Lori, two Puerto Ricans who were already working with the family at the importing company and joined the project.
🫒 An invitation to try new things
The name comes from the verb catar, to taste something slowly and attentively. "Don't be afraid, try it. It's something new, yes, but you'll probably like it, and if you don't, well, you've tried it and that's fine", Alejandra explains.
Even so, the idea is not to give lessons. "We're not here to teach anyone anything," Lucas says. "We simply want people to enjoy other kinds of food, other kinds of cuisines," his sister adds.
They want to take Spanish cooking beyond jamón, wine and paella and bring it closer to a younger audience. That's why the shelves have something for every budget: "You can go for the caviar or you can go for the Cola Cao," she says.
🇪🇸 What you'll find at Cátame
Cátame carries more than 700 Spanish products, according to its listing in the Foods and Wines from Spain directory. The wall of canned goods is the first thing that catches your eye.
It holds navajas, zamburiñas, sepia, pulpo, sardinas, mejillones en escabeche, berberechos and chipirones rellenos in Galician olive oil. From the sea, the shelves move to the garden. There are Rosara jars of alubias al estilo de Navarra, verdinas, garbanzos and lentejas pardinas, ready for a stew, along with salsa romesco and salsa de pimientos del piquillo.
For snacking there are gildas, olives, olive oil and tomato jam. There are also chips from Sal de Ibiza, some truffle-flavored and others ham-flavored, reminiscent of the classic ham Ruffles eaten in Spain.
The tapas night is rounded out with ibérico ham sold by weight, cured pork loin, fuet, traditional manchego, goat cheese and other Spanish varieties. Anyone who wants to slice ham at home can find whole ibérico ham legs.
The sweet side comes from Inés Rosales olive oil tortas, thin and crispy, in orange, lemon and thyme varieties, and the Basque cheesecake, creamy inside and toasted outside, in the style of San Sebastián. To drink, there are wines, beers, horchata and Kas (a Spanish soft drink) in three flavors: lemon, orange and apple.
In one corner, a chalkboard announces: "We have frozen meat, and it's very good." They are 100% ibérico pork cuts.
First time visiting? We asked the brothers for three products to fill your basket:
A canned seafood item, such as mussels, cockles or some type of crustacean.
Olives with pits. "Delicious, any type of olive," Lucas recommends.
Kas lemon, for a tinto de verano or a light beer.
Cátame has a pink facade and a clay tile roof. Inside, the space shifts in tone.
The original floor of the space, made of losetas criollas with designs in yellow, green and white, the kind still seen in many old houses in the barrio, was what convinced them to take the space. "We were incredibly lucky to find this place with this floor, and from there we started creating," Alejandra says.
She is the artist in the family and the one responsible for bringing to life the illustrations and the entire visual identity of Cátame. Also hers is the wash on the walls, a lime paint in cream and sand tones that leaves a texture of aged plaster, like the walls of a town in southern Spain.
The result is a modern, playful colmado built on a floor that is pure Puerto Rico.
🎁 To give (and treat yourself)
Cátame is also a good stop for taking care of seasonal gifts. Beyond food, the store carries aprons with nods to Spain, paelleras for anyone ready to tackle Sunday rice, a wide variety of Spanish wines and high-end olive oils.
If you're not sure what to choose, you can put together your own gift: the store sells a box that you fill to your liking.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
