Inside: El Parador

The dancefloor gets packed with an array of dancers, from experts to newbies. (Credit: Tucson Citizen)

Salsa has always been one of our favorite things to put on chips. It turns out we’re not the only ones that feel this way—somebody made a dance about it! Fridays and Saturdays nights, El Parador transforms from a tropical garden-style Mexican restaurant into a hot Latin discoteca. Aside from being one of the only places in town to salsa dance, it’s also one of the best. 

Entertainment: Salsa nights are all about the live bands; Descarga is there every Friday, Salsarenque and La Unica alternate Saturdays. The bands perform a mix of salsa, cumbia, merengue, cha-cha-cha, bolero, Latin Jazz instrumentals and original compositions.

Libations: Import beers—including Bohemia, Sol, Negra Modelo and Pacifico—are $3.50, excluding Guinness cans ($4) and Tecate cans ($2.50). Domestics are $3 and cover the usuals (Bud, Bud, Light, Miller Genuine, etc.). El Parador offers seven different specialty margaritas, such as the Italian (topped with Amaretto, $5) and fruit (strawberry, mango, melon, peach, raspberry or prickly pear, $5.50). Other spirits: mojitos ($5), daquiris ($5.50) and sangria ($5.50). Also, ask about the nightly drink specials.

The Scene: Very festive. Once the music starts, almost everyone is up dancing on the floor, which starts to feel too small rather quickly. It’s a diverse mix of people who know what they’re doing and people who are clearly just faking it (us), but everyone is having fun. These are folks who are there to dance, and you never have to worry about people trying to “grind up” on you, which the bouncer explained as the reason why we were being escorted out of the club. Hey, now we know. 

Lessons: If the only dance you know how to do is the Macarena, we're sorry. But you can fix that. Just find Jeannie Tucker, who offers salsa lessons starting at 10:45 on Friday nights for only $5.  The class is roughly 45-minutes long, covering the basics and giving you plenty of time to get out there and shake your booty.

Bottom line: If you’ve never been to El Parador for salsa dancing, then you’re missing out on one of the best dance nights in Tucson. Better than tejano night at the Wildcat House. Even better than the hot supermodels-free drinks-no cover charge-Barry Manilow’s-greatest-hits night at Maloney’s. (OK, we're still waiting from them to start that one.)

Now, where’s the dance based on guacamole?

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