Special Travel Edition---Puerto Rico!!
We recently took a trip to Puerto Rico to enjoy all of the wonderful culinary items that they offer. My husband is originally from there, and for years I have heard stories about the food, so I was eager to try it for myself. We went a few years back and I have been hooked ever since! I don't know what it is, but everything tastes better in Puerto Rico!
On one of our day trips to San Juan, we got Piraguas. It is basically shaved ice, but they do it a little different. They take a block of ice and scrape it to get the shaved ice. Then they put flavoring on it. I got Grape and Ivan got Franbueza (which he says he can't tell me what it means in English. It's hard to translate!)
Metropol
From the moment we landed, we were already in search of food. From our previous trips, we have a few favorite places that we like to visit. Metropol in Isla Verde is one of them. We were ready to unwind so we ordered a pitcher of Sangria to start the meal off right!
We were given complimentary garlic bread and I tried my best to not eat it all, but failed. As simple as it is, bread is one of those things that is a million times better in Puerto Rico. And for some reason, the garlic even tasted better. It was like it was stronger and had more of a garlic taste. We fought over the bread and I am pretty sure in the end it was a draw. Neither one of us was giving up and extra pieces!
We were given complimentary garlic bread and I tried my best to not eat it all, but failed. As simple as it is, bread is one of those things that is a million times better in Puerto Rico. And for some reason, the garlic even tasted better. It was like it was stronger and had more of a garlic taste. We fought over the bread and I am pretty sure in the end it was a draw. Neither one of us was giving up and extra pieces!
I have learned long ago that you can't go wrong with anything you pick, so I rolled the dice and randomly selected something off of the menu. My dish was Lomillo Salteado a la Cubana, which is pepper steak Cuban style. It came with rice, red beans, and sweet plantains. I was a little upset when Ivan ordered, because I heard him say tostones. If I knew tostones were available I would have chosen those instead! Darn spanish! Oh well. Like I said, you can't go wrong so I just went with it. The steak was really tender and was in a delicious semi-spicy sauce with peppers and onions. I immediately covered my rice with the beans and was in heaven. The sweet plantains aren't really my thing, so I saved them for last. They have a really sweet flavor that is very strong. I traded a few of them for one of Ivan's tostones. I still can't believe he gave me one!
Ivan got the Churrasco de 8oz. I don't even think he needed to look at the menu because he knew exactly what he wanted when he sat down. He let me take a bite (again, I don't know how I got away with it) and the steak was very tender and flavorful. I now know why he likes it so much. He also opted for white rice and black beans with tostones to round out his dish.
The guys at the next table got the fried fish. They fry their fish a little different in Puerto Rico!!
Another favorite of ours is La Ceiba which is on the same road as Plaza Las Américas. La Ceiba is our favorite breakfast place and we have to go there every single day we are in Puerto Rico, no kidding. I am just going to list all of our morning breakfast items here instead of breaking it down by day.
Mallorca-best pastry ever. It's like a mix between a cinnamon roll and a croissant. The top is dusted with powdered sugar and the inside is flaky like a croissant. The mallorca has a very subtle sweet flavor and the powdered sugar pushes it over the edge, in a good way.
Donuts-Puerto Rican donuts are a million times better than any others you have ever tasted. They are light, cakey, and are covered in sugar. It can't get much better than that.
Medianoche Sandwich-My favorite breakfast sandwich. It consists of roast pork, ham, mustard, swiss cheese, and dill pickles. The bread is a sweet yellow egg bread and it really makes the sandwich. It is served hot and is loaded with meat. Delicious!
Cuban Sandwich-The sandwich is made with ham, roasted pork, Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard on Cuban bread. This one is Ivan's favorite.
Bebo's BBQ
Pork- A bit salty (like Pernil) and very tender.
Chicken- I never get chicken at a BBQ place, but Bebo's is the exception. It is very juicy, tender, and has a real nice smoked flavor.
Arroz con Gandules- This is basically yellow rice with pigeon peas (sort of like a bean) and it is my favorite rice ever! I don't know what kind of spices they use, but it is amazing!
On our last visit, we were taken to a Mexican Restaurant around the corner from our favorite bakery. We went back this time but we didn't think it was as good as last time, but still pretty dang good!
Beef Burrito- It was massive! Loaded with ingredients, this one filled Ivan up for most of the day. It came with refried beans and a few tortilla chips.
Chicken Flautas- It is no secret that I LOVE flautas, and these were no exception. Everything tasted fresh and homemade. Mine came with refried beans, guacamole, and some chips. Delicious!
Donde Olga
Down in Pinones, there are a bunch of open air places to get a bite to eat. Our favorite is Donde Olga, the first building on the way in.
I'm still not sure what the thing on the left is, but it had shrimp and crab inside. The ones on the right are crab alcapurrias and beef alcapurrias. Alcapurrias are a mixture of mashed up tubers and root vegetables with meat filling, fried.
Beef Alcapurria
Crab Alcapurria
We also got a Pork Pincho, which is basically a kabob.
Their very own version of Footloose. No dancing sign right above the juke box!
Sam's Pizza
When you think Puerto Rican cuisine, you don't think pizza. Well let me tell you, even the pizza is better in PR! We got 2 different types of pizzas because we couldn't agree on just one.
Chorizo pizza- This is something that you can't get in Jacksonville, so we enjoyed it! The chorizo is chopped small and sprinkled all over the pizza so every bite has meat.
Cheese Pizza- Yes I know it sounds boring, but the cheese pizza is almost better than the chorizo! I don't know what kind of cheese they use, but it's awesome!
We had almost a whole pizza left over, so we made good use of it and had it for dinner along with some Puerto Rican beer, Medalla Light!!!
Bacardi!!
If you ever visit Puerto Rico, you have to take the Bacardi tour. At the end, you go to the pavilion and get 2 free drinks!!
Beef Burrito- It was massive! Loaded with ingredients, this one filled Ivan up for most of the day. It came with refried beans and a few tortilla chips.
Chicken Flautas- It is no secret that I LOVE flautas, and these were no exception. Everything tasted fresh and homemade. Mine came with refried beans, guacamole, and some chips. Delicious!
Donde Olga
Down in Pinones, there are a bunch of open air places to get a bite to eat. Our favorite is Donde Olga, the first building on the way in.
I'm still not sure what the thing on the left is, but it had shrimp and crab inside. The ones on the right are crab alcapurrias and beef alcapurrias. Alcapurrias are a mixture of mashed up tubers and root vegetables with meat filling, fried.
Beef Alcapurria
Crab Alcapurria
We also got a Pork Pincho, which is basically a kabob.
Their very own version of Footloose. No dancing sign right above the juke box!
Sam's Pizza
When you think Puerto Rican cuisine, you don't think pizza. Well let me tell you, even the pizza is better in PR! We got 2 different types of pizzas because we couldn't agree on just one.
Chorizo pizza- This is something that you can't get in Jacksonville, so we enjoyed it! The chorizo is chopped small and sprinkled all over the pizza so every bite has meat.
Cheese Pizza- Yes I know it sounds boring, but the cheese pizza is almost better than the chorizo! I don't know what kind of cheese they use, but it's awesome!
We had almost a whole pizza left over, so we made good use of it and had it for dinner along with some Puerto Rican beer, Medalla Light!!!
Bacardi!!
If you ever visit Puerto Rico, you have to take the Bacardi tour. At the end, you go to the pavilion and get 2 free drinks!!
Glad to see Aurorita is still around. My family started going there in the 1970's and food is always great. Agree with Metropol , Tropical is very good too. La Ceiba is great, Kasalta used to be pretty good, but I heard they've gone a little goumet. Mallorcas from Pepin are the best and the alcapurrias from Piñones cannot be replicated !
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