Latin Cafe Paying Homage To Bergen County Chef's Late Parents Reopens Year After Fire

A Bergen County Latin restaurant is getting ready to reopen more than a year after an electrical fire devastated the kitchen.

Mi Flor is reopening more than a year after a fire. Inset is chef Eliu Salguero. — Mi Flor is reopening more than a year after a fire. Inset is chef Eliu Salguero.
Photo Credit: *Dean Evans (inset)/LEFT: Janine Scotti for DAILY VOICE / RIGHT: Westwood Volunteer Fire Department*

Cecilia Levine

11/17/2023 9:27 a.m.

Mi Flor Latin Cafe in Westwood has been closed since the fire in October 2022.

The eatery announced it would be reopening on Friday, Nov. 17.

Mi Flor opened in 2021 and is run by chef Eliu Salguero, who was born and raised in Guatemala in a family of 16 children, and Dean Evans, who retired from UPS after 25 years of working in IT.

"After recovering from COVID in March of 2020, and meeting up wit Eliu, I decided I need to keep busy," Evans said before opening in 2021. "So I used my skills for Quality Assurance and Management to get the business side of this establishment going and continue to operate while Eliu runs the kitchen."

Mi Flor is a tribute to both Salguero's mother and father, who died within days of each other in 2020.

Salguero said his dad always called his mother “Mi Flor," meaning, my flower. Her name was Oralia, meaning, Orchid. Their photos hang on the walls of the cafe.

Mi Flor is back in business at 57 Kinderkamack Road in Westwood.

Click here to follow Daily Voice Newark and receive free news updates.