Puerto Rican Restaurant to open 59.4 miles east of Los Angeles
(59.4 mi – about 1 hour 3 mins up to 2 hours 10 mins in traffic)
orn and raised in New York, Alvino says he wants the restaurant to appeal to people of all backgrounds.

"We wanted to be in the business of educating people about our culture, our food and our history," says Alvino, whose parents were born in Puerto Rico.6:42 p.m.: Puerto Rican restaurant to open in August in San Bernardino, so move over Taco Bell. Make room for El Coqui.

The first Puerto Rican restaurant in the region is coming to town.El Coqui, named after the small frog that is the unofficial symbol of Puerto Rico, is expected to open in August. A group of investors led by a retired school administrator recently purchased and fixed up a shuttered Mexican seafood restaurant on Sterling Avenue just north of Highland Avenue.

Peter Alvino, a former school superintendent in Illinois, Wisconsin and Fresno, got the idea for the restaurant in late 2004. He frequently traveled back and forth between his job in Fresno and the Los Angeles area to visit his daughter, who was a student at UCLA.

"On my trips, I noticed that California is really Mexican food dominated," says Alvino, a 57-year-old single father who lives in Murrieta. "There are few, if any, Caribbean restaurants. I thought this would be a great opportunity to fill a void." He and a few friends pooled their resources and joined forces with Carmen James, the owner of a Puerto Rican restaurant in Las Vegas with the same name. James is also an investor in the project.

After looking at dozens of locations throughout the Los Angeles area, Alvino says he found the perfect spot just off the 210 Freeway at the Highland Avenue exit. The lease for the 5,600-square-foot building in San Bernardino was about one third the cost of a comparable place in Los Angeles. The partners plan to spend about $85,000 to open

the restaurant. They have fixed the roof, repaired the heating and air-conditioning systems, cleaned and painted the walls and put in new parquet flooring in the dance room. Once they install new security doors and get approval from city planners, they will be allowed to open.

Born and raised in New York, Alvino says he wants the restaurant to appeal to people of all backgrounds. "We wanted to be in the business of educating people about our culture, our food and our history," says Alvino, whose parents were born in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rican cuisine is similar to Cuban food. Seasoned with lots of herbs and spices, entrees are usually served with rice and habichuelas, or red kidney beans. The menu will feature homestyle specialties such as mofongo, a mashed plantain ball served with fried pork, chicken or shrimp. Another signature dish is pernil, roast leg of pork marinated and slow cooked to perfection.

Alex Rezai, one of the investors who will manage the restaurant, said El Coqui will feature a live salsa band three nights a week.

The restaurant will serve as a gathering place to unite the Puerto Rican community that is dispersed throughout Southern California, Alvino said. There are 17,315 Puerto Ricans in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, according to the 2000 census.

"This will be the heart of the Puerto Rican community when this opens up," says Blas Bonilla, a Riverside resident who promoted a large Puerto Rican festival at the Fairplex in Pomona.

"The Puerto Rican community is hungry for this place," Bonilla says. "A lot of people will travel long distances to eat good food." The restaurant will be at 2383 N. Sterling Ave., just north of Highland Avenue. For more information, call co-owner Peter Alvino at (951) 453-1108.

Tell him Don Jíbaro sent you...