Hey all,

I just got back from an incredible 9-day vacation in Puerto Rico. As I
love sampling the local cuisine where ever my travels take me, I
thought that I'd share the culinary highlights.

The first three days were spent in a rented house in the rainforest of
El Yunque. Most of the time there I cooked, but we did venture out
into the town for some eats. At a kiosk we picked up a lobster-chicken
empanadilla and a mixture of crab and ground beef that was encased
with mashed yuca and fried. Cheap and delicious! The fillings were
highly flavored with adobo seasoning and onions. Beware if you go to
Puerto Rico: there are a ton of little fried offerings that are the
makings of addiction. It is definetly a different culture from the US;
driving by, several restaurants boldly advertise "carne frita". I
can't imagine signs outside of US restaurants proclaiming "fried
meat", as sinful food seems to be almost taboo over here. We also
tried some beef and chicken empanadillas and "coco frio": ice-cold
coconuts with the top hacked off and a straw stuck in allowing you to
suck out the coconut waters. We also went through a bottle of Ron de
Barilito (sp?) gold run, which we used to make mojitos. We were also
able to pick some wild bananas, guayabanas, and limes.

Next, we went to Culebra, a small island off the coast of PR. This
island is full of American ex-patriots, so the food was sort of an
American-Pureto Rican fusion. Highlights of the food included fish and
chips made with red snapper, pastelone de amarillos-- a Puerto Rican
meat lasagne made with sliced ripe plantains instead of noodles, pizza
empanadillas, pizza topped with chorizo, guava cheesecake, and flan de
queso-- flan made with cream cheese. One item that I did NOT like was
something called mofongo.

ME: What's mofongo?
WAITER: Um...I don't know how to explain it...
ME: Okay, I'll take one of those.

It turned out to be a heavy, bland, dry mixture of mashed plantains
with chunks of fried pork skin. Sounds good in theory, but does NOT
work in practice. Blech.

The next day we ventured to Vieques, another island off the coast. We
enjoyed coconut cookies, tostones, and grilled red snapper. I got to
try a shrimp empandilla, and my boyfriend had one made with conch.
Delish!

The rest of the trip was spent on the mainland. On our way driving to
the Camuy Caverns, we stopped at a street vendor. We had a conch
salad: sliced conch, onions, and green bell peppers marinated in a
sort of vinaigrette, some landcrab-stuffed yuca, and a kingfish
empanadilla. The vedor also provided us with hot sauce that she had
made herself, and a drink like lemonade made with grapefruit instead
of lemons. Driving by, it was not unusual to see whole pigs on spits
roasting alongside the road, or kiosks selling tropical fruit.

In San Juan, we had an early lunch at a wonderful restaurant called
Tio Danny's. I had a salad similar to the conch salad from earlier
made instead with a type of cod, served with something called
vienda(sp?)-- an array of boiled root vegetables. This included
plantains, yams, yuca, and a root that I had never before heard of or
seen called something like jaotia (I am almost certainly spelling this
wrong). It was naturally both salty and sweet and had a texture akin
to winter squash. My boyfriend had a very tender steak stuffed with
olives, which reminded me of a Puerto Rican pot roast. We then went to
a bakery for desert. I had a confection of two pieces of puff pastry
sandwiching a thick, sweet milk custard, topped with powdered sugar
and cinnamon, and a cafe con leche. My boyfriend had a sweet bun that
was topped with cream cheese.

The biggest surprise and stroke of luck was that it just happened to
be the San Juan culinary festival while we were staying! Restaurants
set up booths outdoors and charged $5-$10 for entrees. Here is a list
of everything that I remember having: duck pate with cornichons;
french fries with bearnaise; shrimp and clam ceviche verde; escargot
with a veal reduction; a basket of shredded, fried plantains filled
with skirt steak; octopus salad; conch salad; fried chicken; risotto
with shrimp, scallops, and salmon; chicken wraps with mango salsa;
whitefish sushi; duck wontons; chicken stuffed with prosciutto; raw
tuna canapes over plantains; and much more that I can't remember right
now.

Just thought that I'd share my experience with all of you, and if
anyone has a recipe for pastelon, please share!

--Erica

On 22 Dec 2003 07:17:46 -0800, Erica > wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I just got back from an incredible 9-day vacation in Puerto Rico. As I
> love sampling the local cuisine where ever my travels take me, I
> thought that I'd share the culinary highlights.
[snip]

Wow, what a fabulous trip! I love hearing about other
peoples' food adventures, and yours sounds especially tempting in this
cold, gray weather.

Ariane

Ariane Jenkins wrote:

> On 22 Dec 2003 07:17:46 -0800, Erica > wrote:
>
>>Hey all,
>>
>>I just got back from an incredible 9-day vacation in Puerto Rico. As I
>>love sampling the local cuisine where ever my travels take me, I
>>thought that I'd share the culinary highlights.
>
> [snip]
>
> Wow, what a fabulous trip! I love hearing about other
> peoples' food adventures, and yours sounds especially tempting in this
> cold, gray weather.
>
> Ariane

P.R. is a fabulous place to go. Especially when it's winter elsewhere.
If you go talk an all day catamaran snorkeling trip. I can't recall
the name of the boat but remember that it was a 45' cat. Great day.
Lunch was provided and drinks flowed at will. The reefs and fish
while snorkeling were simply striking. I wanted to go back this year
but we decided on heading out to Sedona, the Grand Canyon, and Vegas.

Next year will head back south. I need some quality beach time in
February! ;-)

--
Steve

Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. Deal with it.

Steve Calvin > wrote in message ws.com>...
> P.R. is a fabulous place to go. Especially when it's winter elsewhere.
> If you go talk an all day catamaran snorkeling trip. I can't recall
> the name of the boat but remember that it was a 45' cat. Great day.
> Lunch was provided and drinks flowed at will. The reefs and fish
> while snorkeling were simply striking. I wanted to go back this year
> but we decided on heading out to Sedona, the Grand Canyon, and Vegas.
>
> Next year will head back south. I need some quality beach time in
> February! ;-)

Riding on cats is great fun! However, I had the most _INCREDIBLE_
snorkling of my life off of a beach in Culebra. Culebra is an island
about 5 miles long off the east coast of the mainland, and it costs $2
to take the ferry over there from Fajardo. Anyway, we went to a beach
called Playa Flamenco, and from there hiked over a very large hill for
about 20 mins until we got to a beach called Playa Carlos Rosario.
There, we could literally walk off the beach and swim into the most
dense reef I have ever seen. It was free, and the water was clear as
glass. Considering that we have our own snorkel gear, it was great
snorkeling, especially on a budget.

--Erica

"Erica" > wrote in message
om...
> Hey all,
>
> I just got back from an incredible 9-day vacation in Puerto Rico. As I
> love sampling the local cuisine where ever my travels take me, I
> thought that I'd share the culinary highlights.


I kinda like mofongo... although I only had it in Miami (Cuban style) and
not in PR.

My favorite restaurant is Ajili Mojili in Condado (suburb of San Juan).
Also, on the west coast (Rincon) there is a B&B called the Lazy Parrot that
has an awesome restaurant in house. If you go tell them Dwacon sent you.
On second thought... maybe not... :-)


----
Increase the size of your Pines
All the other pines will be evergreen with envy.
www.dwacon.com

Erica, what a great trip!

I was in PR briefly a few weeks ago, and it was a feast, gastronomically
and otherwise. The food highlights of my trip were a visit to the
restaurant "Casita Blanca" in Barrio Obrero (Santurce), a visit to
a lechonera near Guavate (I can't recall the place's name), and a
visit to the restaurant Pikayo, in Santurce.

"Casita Blanca" is about as close as real Puerto Rican home cooking
as you can get without actually going to somebody's home to eat.

Lechoneras are the PR equivalent of a Southern BBQ ribs place,
except that the specialty is pig roasted on a spit. It is fantastic.
One thing I found interesting is that the roasted meat is sold by
the pound, without apparently much regard for where in the animal
it came from. At the lechonera we went to there were two guys
hacking the animal with machetes as fast as they could. Even though
it was pouring buckets outside that day, they couldn't dish the
food out fast enough.

Contrary to "Casita Blanca" and lechoneras, which are decidedly
"food of the people" places, Pikayo is one of Puerto Rico's most
sophisticated restaurants. The food was delicious, though it was
so rarefied that IMO its "Puertorican-ness" had almost vanished;
with the exception of the opening dish, a fantastic plantain soup,
the food I had there could have been served at a top notch restaurant
anywhere.

Irv

Irving Kimura > wrote in news:bsdieo$6pi$1
@reader2.panix.com:

>
>
>
> Erica, what a great trip!
>
> I was in PR briefly a few weeks ago, and it was a feast,
gastronomically
> and otherwise. The food highlights of my trip were a visit to the
> restaurant "Casita Blanca" in Barrio Obrero (Santurce), a visit to
> a lechonera near Guavate (I can't recall the place's name), and a
> visit to the restaurant Pikayo, in Santurce.
>
> "Casita Blanca" is about as close as real Puerto Rican home cooking
> as you can get without actually going to somebody's home to eat.
>
> Lechoneras are the PR equivalent of a Southern BBQ ribs place,
> except that the specialty is pig roasted on a spit. It is fantastic.
> One thing I found interesting is that the roasted meat is sold by
> the pound, without apparently much regard for where in the animal
> it came from. At the lechonera we went to there were two guys
> hacking the animal with machetes as fast as they could. Even though
> it was pouring buckets outside that day, they couldn't dish the
> food out fast enough.

I don't even want to think about how good that must be!

> Contrary to "Casita Blanca" and lechoneras, which are decidedly
> "food of the people" places, Pikayo is one of Puerto Rico's most
> sophisticated restaurants. The food was delicious, though it was
> so rarefied that IMO its "Puertorican-ness" had almost vanished;
> with the exception of the opening dish, a fantastic plantain soup,
> the food I had there could have been served at a top notch restaurant
> anywhere.
>
> Irv
>