SUMMER CAMPS & COURSES

Girls Summer Leadership Camps

Developing Leaders, Finding Purpose & Making a Difference

Week one: July 24-28

Week two: July 31-Aug 4

Lincoln School

Providence

Registration online: www.girlsleadershipcollaborative.com

Bertina Ramos emigrated from Mexico to New York when she was just 16, nine years after her mother made the same journey. She married at 17, and she and her husband eventually made their way to Rhode Island, where they opened Taqueria Lupita on 765 Dexter Street in Central Falls. On the sign above their door is the picture of their now-grown daughter Lupita –one of four children – at nine months old. “She was already walking!” says Ramos with pride.

Ramos does all the cooking for their five-table restaurant, and her husband does all the chopping. Ramos’ recipes come from her grandmother’s kitchen, and she says diners can expect authentic food made with fresh, healthy ingredients. Her recipes are simple by design. “I cook for my restaurant what I’d cook for my family,” she says. And although the restaurant doesn’t have a liquor license, diners are welcome to bring their own. Check the restaurant’s Facebook page for updated hours – when Ramos finds an inexpensive flight, she and her husband never hesitate to take impromptu vacations. “I can do that because I’m retired!” she says and heads back into the kitchen to prepare for the dinner rush.

Not far away, on 1420 Broad Street in Pawtucket, Shark’s Peruvian Cuisine is one of the few Rhode Island restaurants where you can eat al fresco along the Blackstone River, and the restaurant’s paved double-decker patio offers beautiful views. Carlos Valverde’s parents opened one of the state’s first Peruvian restaurants, El Tiburon – the Spanish word for shark. When his parents retired and closed the restaurant, Valverde opened Shark’s Lounge in Pawtucket, then expanded into his current location during the pandemic lockdowns. Because of COVID-related delayed shipping, it took him a while to get started. “All my plates, forks, and knives come from Peru, and they got stuck in shipping containers at the ports,” he says. Even some of his cooking equipment comes from Peru, including a coal-operated rotisserie oven.

“My parents’ restaurant attracted a lot of families from all over, and I want to carry on that legacy,” says Valverde. “I have a lot of Peruvian customers, but the thing that brings me the most joy is serving people of other nationalities. I like being able to share my culture.”