On a television above the bar, Puerto Rican salsa dancers swivel with the kind of impossible hip action that makes Shakira seem restrained. At Santa Rosa’s El Coqui, sangria flows freely on Friday nights, congas pulse through the speakers and housemade pique — a garlicky hot sauce sharpened with vinegar — lends a little extra swagger to nearly every dish.
Festooned with Puerto Rican flags, island memorabilia and dozens of tiny coquí tree frogs, the restaurant feels more like a house party than a business. Much of that spirit comes from co-owner and chef Jackie Roman, whose compact kitchen sends out a steady procession of mofongo, chuletas and empanadas to diners making the trip from across Sonoma County and beyond.
When El Coqui opened in 2009, it was the only restaurant north of San Rafael devoted to Puerto Rican cuisine, a vibrant blend of Spanish, Indigenous and African influences still rarely represented in the region. Plates of red beans, yellow rice, roast chicken and pork chops arrive with the straightforward comfort that transcends language.
Roman, who split her childhood between New York and Puerto Rico in a family of eight siblings orbiting a lively cast of aunts, uncles and grandparents, learned early how to cook for a crowd. Her longtime friend and business partner, Tina Jackson, still laughs recalling how the pair opened the restaurant during the depths of the recession using secondhand equipment bought on Craigslist — all while trying to keep the venture secret from their employers until a local restaurant writer accidentally revealed the plan…