YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – On this fifth of May, one of the area’s longest-running Mexican restaurants celebrated Cinco de Mayo with their special carnitas.

Casa Ramirez has been on Mahoning Avenue in Youngstown for 31 years.

By 6 p.m. Friday, groups of people were coming in at the rate of one a minute.

A carnita is a pork-based dish. At Casa Ramirez, they’re made on special occasions like Cinco de Mayo.

“We do carnitas the right way. We slow cook it for about three hours. We do it with some cabbage and pico de gallo. When you do it the right way, it takes a little time. There’s other quicker ways of doing it but we don’t like doing it that way. Our food, we like to do it the homemade way,” said manager Carlos Ramirez.

Ramirez says when they opened in 1992, few people around Youngstown celebrated Cinco de Mayo. He says it was Casa Ramirez that made Cinco de Mayo a big deal in the area.