Local Latin restaurant Los Alfaros will host a Valentine’s Day event, which will be open to students ages 18 and up.
Los Alfaro’s first Food Exposition will feature traditional Latin cuisine as well as free Latin dance lessons and a DJ from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday.
After the doors close and the restaurant does a mini wardrobe change, doors re-open at 10 p.m. for a Latin dance party.
The cover charge is $3 for students and $5 for the general public. More Latin dance lessons and a DJ mixing hip-hop Latin music will give guests the opportunity to dance in style.
The kitchen will remain open during the dance party and a club menu will be available.
USI students Teresa Alfaro and her children Cindy and Pedro Alfaro started Los Alfaros in October 2011.
Junior social work major Teresa said she is very excited about USI Latinos Unidos, also known as the Hispanic Student Union (HSU), working with Los Alfaros to promote the Valentine’s Day event.
“We are a small business and we want to grow,” she said. “HSU wanted to help us, and I am more than happy helping them too, by bringing them exposure.”
Junior Spanish major and HSU President Glorisel Cruz said HSU didn’t volunteer to get recognized.
“It was just to help our family,” she said. “It’s just a family kind of thing.”
The organization will take part in this celebration of Latin culture to help its extended Latino family but also to start volunteering events and have potential fundraisers.
“My customers are going to know it’s a club from USI,” Teresa said. “We just want to involve students.”
Senior history and English major and Los Alfaros Advertising Representative Cindy Alfaro said because Los Alfaros doesn’t Americanize their food, people tend to like it more.
“Apparently we make the best burritos in town,” Cindy said. “We want to bring authentic cooking. We make our own sangria, our wines are all imported, and we have great drink specials.”
Drink Specials: $10 (no cover charge needed), choose from: 3 domestic beers, 2 imported beers or 1 wine/sangria
