Dooley Noted.: Peruvian American Chamber of Commerce Night at The Inkas' Empire in Rockville, MD

23 April 2008

Peruvian American Chamber of Commerce Night at The Inkas' Empire in Rockville, MD

The PACC sponsors a networking evening once a month at The Inkas' Empire. Business cards change hands, Pisco Sours are poured, and ceviche noshed.

Chamber Vice President Francisco Vega works the crowd. Vega is the founder of the Hispanic Yellow Pages in the Washington, D.C. metro area. His next project is a web site featuring weekend activities for local Hispanics.

Members of the Peruvian American Chamber of Commerce network over Pisco Sours.

Machu Picchu mural at The Inkas' Empire

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Friday Night Lights

A boy sat at a table near the dance floor playing with a candle while the rest of his family danced to the Latin beat. At 11, Harrison Ramos was just old enough to think it not cool anymore to dance with his parents.
At seven, Donna, his little sister, was under no such pretension and danced happily with an older female relative. The Ramos children were at La Granja de Oro, a Peruvian restaurant in Falls Church, to celebrate their father’s birthday.
La Granja De Oro is the kind of restaurant where the waitresses sit down to chat with their customers and are not afraid to pop a toddler in a high chair to help out parents saddled with sippy cups, snacks, and diaper bags.
It is a family-oriented kind of place, according to Atilio Garcia, the owner and a Peruvian immigrant who got his start washing the floors of an Italian restaurant 37 years ago.
But on Friday and Saturday nights it also becomes a place for live music lovers to get their Latin fix.
About ten years ago, Garcia started live music nights on the weekends for the local Hispanics who were hungry not only for the food of Latin America, but also for the salsa, meringue, and cumbia music of their native countries.
Garcia wanted to maintain the family-friendly atmosphere. “It’s not like single guys come to meet other singles,” he said. The crowd is typically made up of middle-aged couples, young families, and groups of friends interested in the Latin music.
Though the restaurant specializes in Peruvian food, La Granja de Oro attracts customers from all over Central and South America, as well as many non-Hispanic patrons.
When “Luz de America” took over on a recent Friday night, the crowd was entirely Hispanic and definitely itching to dance.
Spanish for “Light of America,” the band features two “front women” and a bass guitar player, drummer, and keyboard player.
Charly Barrios, 40, tuned his bass and talked about performing at La Granja de Oro. Originally from Bolivia, Barrios and the band play at the restaurant every weekend. “We love it,” he said.
The lead singer gave a shout-out in Spanish to a member of the audience, then danced over to his table to sing him “Happy Birthday” in Spanish.
Four Peruvian women arrived at the beginning of the first set. Dressed to dance, they sipped margaritas from salt-rimmed glasses and talked in between trips to the dance floor.
One of the ladies, Domitila Anaya, 44, said she and her friends were there to celebrate her sister’s birthday. Why La Granja de Oro? “We come for the beautiful Spanish music,” she said, smiling.