New Moline Restaurant Boasts Spectacular Food and Art Like No Other in the Quad-Cities
There are many Mexican restaurants throughout the Quad Cities, but Corazon Latino is decidedly not one of them. The new bar and restaurant at 1514 5th Ave., Moline, in fact, is unlike any eatery in the QC, in more ways than one.
Fresh, authentic cuisine from Latin America combines with a vibrant, colorful atmosphere (the jaw-dropping art through the entire interior by popular QC artist Heidi Sallows) work perfectly together to make the new place unique, dazzling and unforgettable.
You don’t need to sample a thing from the bountiful bar, and still the overall effect is intoxicating.
The Corazon website says: “Diners find a menu that spans grilled meats, seafood plates, vegetarian options, and signature appetizers designed for sharing. Each item reflects careful preparation, whether it’s marinated proteins cooked over open flame, slow-braised stews, or crispy street-style tacos topped with fresh cilantro and lime. Portion sizes accommodate both solo diners and larger groups looking to sample multiple dishes family-style.
Sallows included ceiling painting as part of her Corazon artwork (photo by Jonathan Turner).
“The bar program highlights classic Latin cocktails alongside local and imported beers, giving guests options that range from refreshing to robust. Daily specials rotate based on seasonal availability, ensuring repeat visitors always encounter something new,” the site says.
Chef Juan Hernandez, a 47-year-old native of Mexico (an hour outside Mexico City), is also chef for the traditional Mexican restaurant El Fogon Mexican Bar & Grill in Bettendorf, which has been open since mid-2024. The same owner, Roberto Orozco, also owns Corazon Latino, which opened in early December 2025 in the former Café Fresh space.
He’s known Sallows for over 20 years, and she painted at his old Jalapeno’s restaurant on 4th Avenue in Moline.
Corazon Latino chef Juan Hernandez, 47, is also chef for the El Fogon Mexican restaurant in Bettendorf (photo by Jonathan Turner).
In July 2022, Sallows created a gorgeous beach-themed mural with arches on the east wall of Orozco’s Los Portales Mexican restaurant, 1231 5th Ave., Moline. His partner Alvaro Villando runs Los Portales 2 at 1012 E. Kimberly Road, Davenport.
Orozco wanted to open El Fogon (at 4590 Wyndham Drive, Bettendorf, in the building that formerly housed Dos Hippies) to create “something different,” incorporating some Los Portales favorites. “El Fogon” is Spanish for fire pit, and fittingly there is a fire pit in a corner of the patio.
Sallows pictured in 2022 at a portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., she did for the MLK Center in Rock Island.
“I am impressed. She’s really good, really talented,” Orozco said in June 2024.
Clearly, he and Hernandez also wanted something different for Corazon, which is Spanish for “heart.”
“We want food from the Latin heart,” Hernandez said recently. A large face on one wall features eyeglasses with two hearts.
Orozco came up with the lighting concept, to use black lights to highlight the sprawling, detailed painting, which glows.
Sallows also came up with painting ceilings and piping throughout the interior, and she just finished the entire restaurant in early February.
Corazon Latino Restaurant and Bar opened in early December 2025 at 1514 5th Ave., Moline (photo by Jonathan Turner).
“We were busy with Fogon, and we came in one day, and she was here by herself,” Hernandez said. “It was all done already. She wanted to keep going; she’s very passionate. For her, this concept it was a little hard. Her hands hurt. It took a while for her to get it done, and it took a while from her soul. To find the inspiration, that’s a very strong person there.”
He gave Sallows the varied, mouth-watering menu, to inspire her for the subject matter of the interior art. Latin America is a different region than Mexico, encompassing Central America and South America. Unlike Mexican food, they don’t highlight tortillas, burritos, chips and salsa and margaritas – though Corazon does include those items on its menu.
A recent AI-generated portrait of Heidi Sallows, who has done many interior and exterior murals across the Quad Cities.
Latin menu differences
Mexico includes influences of Italian and Irish food, and Peru has a lot of influence of Japanese, Hernandez said. “One of the most iconic dishes in Peru is like a stir fry, with a lot of white rice, because a lot of the Japanese immigrants working in Peruvian cuisine start using some of those ingredients and rice.
Corazon reflects dishes from Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Cuba. El Fogon is strictly traditional Mexican and Tex-Mex. Chips and salsa is more Tex-Mex style, Hernandez said. “You go to Mexico and ask for chips and salsa, they go, ‘What are you talking about?’” he said. “You ask for a burrito, they bring you a little donkey.” (Burrito means donkey in Spanish.)
One of the many Latin American dishes on the varied Corazon menu, which you can check out at www.corazonlatinorestaurantandbarqc.com.
He’s from central Mexico, and grew up with a lot of corn enchiladas and mole. Every day, his mother made food fresh from the market.
Hernandez’s favorite dish from his mother (which is on the menu) is enchiladas verdes, made with green tomatillo sauce. He didn’t cook at all until he moved to Chicago in 1998, with friends.
His background is working at fine-dining restaurants, including Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, McCormick & Schmick’s, and Ralph Lauren in downtown Chicago.
Hernandez moved to the QC since his ex-wife was from here. They were married 15 years, they separated and moved here in 2006, and later divorced. They have a daughter together, age 25.
A selfie station at the back wall includes the Spanish phrase meaning, “You will always be in my heart” (photo by Jonathan Turner).
In the QC, he worked at Steventon’s in LeClaire as sous chef and helped change the menu. Hernandez opened the Mexican restaurant Blue Iguana in downtown LeClaire.
He also worked in Waterloo, opening a second Blue Iguana, through 2019. After going back to Mexico for two months, Hernandez was part of the group that opened Twin Span Brewing in Bettendorf (at TBK Sports Complex), which was a challenge.
Three weeks after they opened in early 2020, COVID shutdowns hit and decimated all restaurants. “It was very rough,” Hernandez said. “I thought, is it worth it? We survived. Twin Span is still open, we did great. We survived the pandemic; we survived the pandemic of high prices, like chicken wings going up.”
Juan Solo, part of a team
He actually help make a beer in his honor – Juan Solo – with roasted jalapenos and pineapple. He left Twin Span in early 2024 and became consulting chief for Fogon Group, and opened its Bettendorf restaurant in summer 2024.
They got approached about doing something with the former Café Fresh space on Moline’s 5th Avenue. Hernandez had also worked on the menu for Crawford Brew Works in Bettendorf.
“We said, we can do something with this,” he said of Moline. “This concept we were talking about, we were a little nervous, to do something new.”
The bar at Corazon Latino, 1514 5th Ave., Moline, which took seven months in 2025 to renovate the space formerly occupied by Cafe Fresh (photo by Jonathan Turner).
They worked on renovating the space from April 2025, until opening in early December. There are no other large Latin restaurants in the QC, a mix of everything with a lot of variety.
“When I did the menu, was to show people there’s so much beautiful food that nobody knows about,” Hernandez said. “Peruvian food was supposed to be the next trend, super hot. It didn’t happen, but Peruvian food is amazing.”
“We are not a Mexican restaurant,” he said. “We want you to try this food, and we have some dishes from Mexico too. We have some Tex-Mex; we have some hamburgers. We try to incorporate everybody.”
Heidi Sallows’ painting of a face with heart-shaped glasses reflects the restaurant name — Corazon is Spanish for “heart” (photo by Jonathan Turner).
Hernandez (who has a total staff of about 18) likes to walk among the tables to explain the menu to patrons.
“We made the menu and talked to Heidi, to explain this concept. We don’t want much Mexican,” he said of Sallows. Much of the artwork incorporates Latin American flowers and foods, including Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Peru. One wall reflects condiments like plantains, cabbage, orange, cauliflower, squash, garlic, peppers, and lime.
Sallows included ceiling painting as part of her Corazon artwork (photo by Jonathan Turner).
Specific flowers on the walls also are from different regions of Latin America. It’s a total feast for the senses. Long-term, the owners hope to open another Corazon in Iowa, possibly Iowa City, Hernandez said. To see the menu, click HERE.
Corazon Latino Restaurant and Bar is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and closed Sundays.
To see a photo album of Corazon and some of its dishes, click HERE.
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