Puerto Rican cuisine makes its way to downtown Parker

BY RACHEL LORENZ SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

Puerto Rican cuisine is now part of the culinary scene in downtown Parker as the former Havana Bakery & Cafe on Pikes Peak Avenue transforms into Isla Verde Cocina & Bar.

“Hopefully by the end of May, rst part of June, all these changes will be complete, and we’ll be a full-service, sitdown restaurant with a full bar,” Grant Burch, co-owner of the new restaurant, told Colorado Community Media.

Burch, along with chef Jose Rivera and general manager Karen Reyes, purchased the restaurant at the beginning of the year. e trio have been making adjustments ever since — starting with the meu.

Rivera, who spent his childhood in Ponce, Puerto Rico, said Cuban and Puerto Rican cuisine are very similar. So he kept the Cuban sandwich, the empanadas, the lechon asado and many