The manager of Sol Food, the Puerto Rican restaurant mini-chain that originated in San Rafael, was very flattered to know that a superstar like PR-born Bad Bunny had found out about his restaurant and brought his entire entourage, dancers and all, in for dinner on Monday night.
This year's Artist of the Year at the VMAs — the first non-English-speaking artist ever to do so — Bad Bunny played to a packed arena at the Oakland Coliseum on Wednesday night. As KPIX reports, he played to a Latinx heavy audience, calling out in Spanish at one point, "Dónde están los Latinos de Oakland?" or "Where are Oakland's Latinos?"
But two days before the show and already in the Bay Area, a rep for Bad Bunny apparently called Sol Food in San Rafael and asked if they could accommodate a group of 80 people that night. Manager Francisco Gomez tells the Chronicle that Mondays have been slow lately, so he said sure. And the person on the phone said, "We have 80 Puerto Ricans."
Rolling up to the restaurant was an entourage of black SUVs, and it was only then that Gomez figured out that it was Bad Bunny and his friends and entire concert crew.
The group reportedly ordered most everything from the menu, including pork chops, mofongo relleno de camarones, and plaintain-fried prawns.
Bad Bunny also went back to the kitchen for a selfie with the cooks.
As Gomez told ABC 7, "It's like having Oprah come and visit us here. So it's a great feeling to know that a Puerto Rican artist came to our Puerto Rican restaurant and brought Puerto Rican people to come in and enjoy our food."
And, as Gomez said to the Chronicle, "To know that a famous artist that’s not really from the Bay Area knew about us, and wanted to bring his friends and dancers and everyone he loves here — that’s big."
Sol Food opened in 2006 in San Rafael, and it's one of fairly few Puerto Rican restaurants around the Bay Area. There are now two other locations, in Mill Valley and Petaluma.