I Love Paraguay Restaurant
We are a love affair between community and food, something all our neighbors and fellow Paraguayan citizens can share and take part in. We serve handmade, traditional, and authentic Paraguayan food, inspired by our Guarani Indigenous descends, many of the dishes are named in Guarani as it describes the food in a unique and perfect way. The restaurant was an idea brought upon the “longing for our delicious cuisine” that so many generations in New York City sought after. We have been in the Sunnyside neighborhood for 14 years and began shipping nationwide in 2020. Our belief is that food tastes better when shared. We believe that our culture endures when people have knowledge of its existence and importance. We value being part of such an amazingly diverse and vibrant city.
We are inspired by the love of our culture. Built on the principles that food tastes better when shared. For the vibrant and diverse city of New York.
Nancy & Carlos Ojeda Story
I, Nancy Ojeda, and my husband, Carlos, are the owners of I Love Paraguay restaurant. We have more than 30 years of experience in the culinary sector. In the 1990s, we owned a restaurant called Petti Amour in Asuncion, Paraguay. Then we opened a fast food restaurant and owned several school canteens. In short, this is what we have always done and what we love to do.
In 2000, we emigrated to the United States, with New York as our destination. Even though people say it is a tough city, it didn't take long for us to realize that the Big Apple welcomes you no matter where you come from. This multicultural city was built upon thousands of stories like ours. We only needed to speak the New York language -- the language of hard work, demand, and perseverance. This cosmopolitan city was not as tough as we thought; we just needed to believe in ourselves. Still, the nostalgia hits you in those less thoughtful moments, like when you’re taking a train going to work on a snowy day and you think how comforting it would be to drink a cocido with milk or eat any delicious meal from your home country. The first thing you miss is the food.
From this longing, the idea of Little Paraguay Deli, which we ran from 2004-2006 in West Harrison, NY, was born. Later, it evolved into the I Love Paraguay Restaurant, which we have run from 2007 to the present in Sunnyside, Queens, NY. This picturesque neighborhood did not take long to fall in love, and there we began to fulfill the dreams that we carried when we left our homeland. Why did we call it “I Love Paraguay Restaurant”? Because that was what we felt in our souls, and we wanted everyone to understand where we came from.
Today more than ever, we are proud to represent Paraguay through our gastronomy and to make known a little of the land we come from. Our mission remains the same: to provide you with a feast of nostalgic memories and traditions that draw a huge smile when you take a bite and transport you to a place that you have saved in your best memories. In other words, we want you to savor the home cooking of a lifetime, which tempers the body and revives the spirit.
