Traditional Puerto Rican Fare...

Platos

2 Rosa Street

Carolina, PR 00979

www.platosrestaurant.com/‎ 

One of my favorite things about Puerto Rican food is the mofongo. I discovered it the last time I was there, and I had been craving it ever since. I heard from some people that the best in the area was at a place called Platos, right down the street from the hotel. Actually my cousin and his wife had been there the week before, and they recommended one of their dishes to us. My girlfriend, her mom and I walked down there one day for lunch. 

It had a very authentic feel to it from the moment that we walked in. All of their waiters and waitresses were bilingual and the decorations were very Puerto Rican. After perusing the menu for a mere moment, I decided on the mofongo de churrasco con salsa criolla, and we ordered the queso frito con salsa de guayava y coco. 

The fried cheese bites came out first, and they were just as good as my cousin and his wife had described them. Whatever cheese was used was better than any fried cheese I have had anywhere else. It was creamy and it stayed together nicely with the batter around it. The star of the show however was the guava and coconut dipping sauce. Simply heaven in a dish. I love guava, but am not a huge fan of coconut, but if they always taste like that when combined,I would eat them over and over again. You could dip anything in that sauce and it would taste great. We actually asked them to leave it on the table when they took the plate away because it was so good.

The mofongo came out soon thereafter, and it was a monster! It was a huge dish of plantains and stuffed inside was a large amount of seared skirt steak, tossed in a delicious creole sauce. The plantains are rich and hearty like potatoes, but they still have a touch of sweetness to them. Mixing a bite of plantain, steak and sauce all together was a match made in heaven. It was so comforting and so delicious, but it really was a mountain of food. I probably shouldn’t have eaten it all, but before I realized it, the entire plate was empty. What a dish!

 
Three pints for Platos. The fried cheese dish and the mofongo are knock outs. I would order them a million times over, and you should definitely check them out as well if you are in the area of Carolina in Puerto Rico. Cheers!

A Revisit Worth Mentioning...

Marmalade

317 Calle Fortaleza

San Juan, PR 00901

www.marmaladepr.com/‎ 

My girlfriend's father had been very adamant about how good Marmalede, a restaurant in San Juan Puerto Rico was. My girlfriend I were very skeptical because we had been there once a few years ago after it had first opened, and we had a fairly bad experience. We are always willing to give a place another chance, so we went with an open mind. We went with my girlfriend's parents and another couple that they were friends with one evening during our trip. It is a very chic and modern restaurant, with a focus on fresh and sustainable ingredients, cooked by the chef whom has extensively traveled and cooked around the world. 

Once we were seated we indulged in the wine that was ordered for the table from the extensive wine list. As we read over the menu, I noticed that it looked completely different than I remembered it. It seemed so very sophisticated now, with many dishes looking very appetizing. After mulling it over for some time, I decided on the ceviche with tostones and the halibut cheeks in asapao sauce. 

The ceviche was incredibly fresh and expertly prepared. The fish used was red snapper, a personal favorite of mine. It was dressed with fresh lime juice, jicama, avocado and orange chipotle dressing and served alongside of it was basil infused tostones. The dish was citrusy and creamy at the same time, while still keeping the integrity of the fish and focusing on its freshness. I also had the pleasure of tasting my girlfriend's gnocchi with shortribs, horseradish and peppery greens. The dish was also expertly prepared. The gnocchi were cloudlike in nature, light as can be and the shortribs were tender and delicious. 

While we waited for our main courses to come out, they served an intermezzo course of a white bean soup with scallions, black truffle oil and pancetta dust. This was simply a mind blowing soup. Never have I ever had a soup so rich, creamy and flavorful. After tasting it, I could have eaten an entire pot of it. If I go back, I will order a ton of it and eat it all! It was seriously divine. 

The meal was off to a great start, and I was hoping that the main course was going to keep the standards of the meal up. O boy did it. My halibut cheeks were magnificent. For those of you that don’t know, Asopao is a traditional Boricuan soup that is like a cross between soup and paella. It is usually made with chicken or shrimp. The broth that was used for the halibut cheeks tasted exactly like asopao and had all of those traditional, hearty flavor profiles. The cheeks were tender and moist, and the soaked up the broth nicely. I tasted my girlfriend's sea bass and was equally as impressed with it. It was served over a bed of bamboo rice with a pineapple papaya marmalade and a lime ginger emulsion. The delicacy of the fish and the prominence of the flavors was really an incredible combination. 

Not to be outdone, my girlfriend's parents raved about the warm banana and butterscotch bread pudding, so we decided on ordering that. It was the right call, because it was superbly delicious. It was topped with an aged rum ice cream and crushed brazil nuts. The flavor was amazing. The only thing I can say is I wish it had a bit more banana flavor, but other than that it was spot on. The ice cream gave a nice sharp contrast to the warm bread pudding and the brazil nuts added a really good bit of crunch to each bite.

Four solid pints for Marmalade. I never would have guessed that it would have turned around so much from our first visit a few years ago, but it completely blew my socks off. It was a fantastic experience from start to finish, and I would recommend it to anyone visiting San Juan. Make sure that you get a taste of that white bean soup because it will change your life! Cheers!

The Beginning of a Puerto Rican Voyage...

Toro Salao

367 Calle Tetuan

San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901

www.yelp.com › Restaurants › Tapas Bars‎ 

My girlfriend and I headed down to visit her parents in Puerto Rico at the end of tax season last year. She needed to get her German passport renewed and I was on the mission of asking her father for his permission to marry her, so it was due to be a pretty eventful trip. On the first day there, we went to lunch in the old city to a little spot known as Toro Salao. It’s a Spanish tapas place run by a restaurant group that owns quite a few popular restaurants in San Juan. I hadn’t had Tapas since our visit to Hong Kong in November, so I was pretty excited to try this place out.

When we were seated outside, we began discussing what to get. I allowed my girlfriend and her dad to decide, and once they did we wound up with the following items to share; Bacalaitos, Brie topped with chorizo marmalade and toasts, empanadillas with aioli, a flatbread with veggies and arugula and paella. My girlfriend's dad was on his lunch so he couldn’t enjoy an adult beverage with us, but we ordered a couple of passion fruit caipirinhas. I love tropical fruit in any form of alcoholic beverage, but passion fruit has to be one of my favorites. It makes drinks citrusy and sweet and it is especially refreshing in the heat of Puerto Rico.

The first two items that we received at the table were the bacalaitos and the brie topped with chorizo marmalade. Bacalaitos are little fritters made from salt cod, and these in particular were served over a delicious homemade aioli. The fritters were crunchy and the salt cod was the perfect filling inside. It was rich and creamy, and seasoned perfectly because of the salt. The aioili was amazing because of its creamy texture and strong garlic flavor. The brie and chorizo marmalade was out of this world. The melted brie was creamy and rich and the chorizo marmalade was a touch spicy and very sweet, while still having all of the intense flavor of chorizo. It was pretty fantastic to have chorizo in that form, and spreading the brie and chorizo mixture over some of the toast they gave us made for a heavenly combination. 

The empanadillas came out next along with the flatbread and the paella. The empanadillas were stuffed with chicken and were very flavorful. Unfortunately for me, the empanada dough was too thick for me, especially in relation to the filling. There was way more dough than there should have been in my opinion. The aioli they served with it did wonders to finish up the extra dry dough though. They definitely know how to make a good aioili at Toro Salao. The flatbread was a very delicious dish. It was full of fresh vegetables and was crispy as can be. The paella was also pretty tasty. I love paella because it has so many different elements to it. There are so many different kinds of seafood in it. The rice always has so much flavor and the freshness of the seafood is always something to look forward to. 

Three pints for Toro Saloo. They offer of some very tasty Spanish tapas options in a place filled with many other dining options. While Puerto Rican cuisine is similar, Spanish food is different enough that they really have a hold of the market for that type of food in the old city. Definitely worth a visit if you are visiting San Juan, so check it out and let me know what you think! Cheers!

Chicken and Donuts...Say What???

Federal Donuts

Multiple Locations

federaldonuts.com/ 

My girlfriend and I have been to Federal donuts many times since it opened. We went to the original location when it first opened in South Philly, and then once the center city location opened we visited there also. We had picked up donuts for people mostly, but this time I went alone after a long walk through the city and stopped in because I wanted to try the fried chicken too. Yes this is a donut shop as well as a fried chicken shop. I know it sounds weird, but that’s part of the charm and the genius of it. They make donuts all morning until they run out, and then they make chicken until they run out and then they close. Its been getting all kinds of buzz and for good reason as the donuts are amazing. Inventive and delicious flavors are what they key in on.

This time around as I said I was looking to try the fried chicken, so I ordered the half order of chili garlic chicken which comes with a drumstick, a breast and thigh. They call it Korean style fried chicken because of the method in which they cook it. They dip it in a cornstarch based batter before they fry it once to cook it all the way through. Then they cook it to order after it has rested and then they coat it with glaze or season it with a dry seasoning as soon as it comes out of the fryer. I noticed a new donut I hadn’t tried when I went to pay so I decided to try it as well; the cookies and cream donut.

The chicken was ready in mere minutes and was piping hot when it got to me. I had to wait a while to be able to hold it. Once it had cooled a bit, I bit into the crunchiness and was loving it. It was super crunchy as advertised, and the chili garlic glaze was both tangy and spicy. It was a really tasty combination for the chicken, but the amount of chicken you get is crazy! I could only eat the leg and thigh and saved the breast for later. 

The donut was heavenly. I love cookies and cream anything, and to have it on a donut was just insane. It tasted like I was eating cookies and cream ice cream, but in the form of a delicious donut. Its just another stellar flavor that they offer up, but it definitely moved into my favorites amongst the lemon poppy seed donut, French toast donut and strawberry rhubarb donut. These flavors change all the time, so you may not be able to get them, but if they are on the menu, do yourself a favor and order one of them because you will love it!

Three and a half pints for the crews over at FedNuts. Federal Donuts is a really unique concept. Its amazing that it came from the same person who thought up Percy Street BBQ and Zahav. Michael Solomonov is a genius and he is a big reason why I love the Philly food scene so much and want to become a part of it. We are blessed in this area by amazing chefs with original ideas and flawless execution, and Federal Donuts is definitely a part of that mix. Check it out and let me know what you think! Cheers!