How to Explore the Best of Puerto Rico and Make a Difference, Too
Not going to Puerto Rico—especially when the food scene is so hot—would be a mistake.
(Bloomberg) -- I landed in San Juan on Jan. 8, just 36 hours after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Puerto Rico. It was followed by a series of smaller earthquakes and aftershocks that killed at least one person and rocked the south side of the island.
In San Juan, restaurants were affected to varying degrees. Some lost power for several days, with others up and running within 24 hours. “We’ve learned to come together after natural disasters,” Jose Enrique, the island’s most celebrated chef, tells me. During the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, Enrique was tapped by José Andrés and his World Central Kitchen organization to help feed what eventually became millions of locals and rescue workers.
Following Maria and Hurricane Irma, which preceded it, the local tourism market—which accounts for 6.5% of the island’s gross domestic product—took a nosedive. Hotels closed for long-term repairs, and airlines cut service.
Now there are an average of 200 arrivals on any given day at San Juan’s airport, up from a low of 20, and the inventory of hotel rooms has increased 3.4% since 2017. The year 2019 also saw the highest lodging revenues year-to-date for Puerto Rico tourism, more than $953 million—due, in part, to the gleaming renovations.
Enrique says the food scene in San Juan has evolved to become more dynamic and locally focused since the hurricanes. “Before the storm, there was a lot of Italian cooking, a lot of French cooking here. You couldn’t find Puerto Rican food in high-end restaurants.” Now the island is showcasing a singular kind of cooking that you can’t find anywhere else, as cooks—and bartenders—take a fresh look at such classics as mofongo (mashed plantains), empanadas, pernil, roasted pork, and pina coladas.
Even for dishes that aren’t typically Puerto Rican (a tomato and mozzarella salad, say), chefs are sourcing more and more ingredients from the island. They’ve gotten an assist from the government: Since Maria, the Puerto Rican Department of Agriculture has worked with farmers to reduce food imports from 85% to as little as 65%.
“After every earthquake, every storm, we say: We’re going to do this bigger and better,” says Enrique. Here’s a guide to supporting the local economy with the best places I found for terrific food and cocktails, along with hotel rooms, for the ultimate, long-weekend trip.
Where to Eat
Jose Enrique
Puerto Rico’s most celebrated chef has taken his exuberant crillo cooking to a buzzy, brasserie style dining room in Condado, a 15-minute ride from Old San Juan. In the softly lit space, Enrique serves perennial favorites such as crispy fried yellowtail with sweet yam mash and paper-thin swordfish schnitzel. New—and mandatory—are plate-sized fried salt cod bacalitos, which are excellent with a coconut-water highball. In the spring, Enrique will transform the second floor of the building into an additional restaurant with a selection of ceviches and carpaccios and toasts with toppings like uni and herb butter, as well as assorted sparkling wines and sake, all with a view of the ocean. 1021 Ashford Ave.
Cocina al Fonda
Set behind a gallery in the lively arts district of Santurce, Cocina al Fonda feels like a gallery, too, with high ceilings, widely spaced tables and minimal decor. Chef Natalia Vallejo features local ingredients animated with influences from around the world, such as caramelized goat fricassee presented in cabbage leaves; the catch of the day, served whole, in a sweetly spicy Caribbean curry sauce with hefty tostones; and as a starter, corn arepas with a bright tomato salad, garnished with a flurry of grated cured cheese. 1057 Ponce de Leon Ave.
Verde Mesa
This Old San Juan dining room has a romantic, antique store vibe and a menu from chef Gabriel Hernandez with more vegetables than a lot of local dining rooms. There are options like pumpkin barley porridge stocked with roast eggplant, kale, and mushrooms, pigeon pea hummus, and swordfish ceviche, sometimes accompanied by crisp chips made from malanga, a tropical root vegetable. The hands-down favorite dessert is the purple dream, a combination of berries and whipped cream, with crispy meringue and a floral hit of lavender. Calle Tetuan 107
Prole Cocina & Barra
Highlights at this bright, new dining room include pollo frito—sous vide fried chicken with crispy brussels sprouts and truffle mash—a 22-oz cowboy rib-eye with grilled asparagus, and burrata salad made with heirloom cherry tomatoes and sourdough from a local bakery. Don’t sleep on the cocktails: At the buzzy bar, customers can get the gin-and-cucumber Lobo Demesticado and house favorite Tito Placita, which combines vodka, aperol, ginger, and lime with Puerto Rico’s Ocean Lab Mambo beer. 619 Calle Cerra
Vianda
Francis Guzman, who cooked at New York’s Blue Hill and the Modern, is a cheerleader for local products. At his window lined restaurant, he’ll serve Puerto Rico’s game fish, snook, with roasted shrimp and fermented aji peppers, add morcilla (house blood sausage) to risotto and accent tostadas with short rib marmalade and caramelized onions. Along with inspired cocktails like the Rye-Cao Old Fashioned (infused whiskey and orange bitters) Vianda serves mocktails like Limoncillo, made with lemongrass tea and fermented lemon syrup. 1413 Avenida de la Constitución
La Casita Blanca
As the name suggests, this is a white house fronted with an arboretum’s worth of plants and has been welcoming locals for decades. Inside, on plastic-cloth-topped tables, servers offer up comfort food from a chalk board menu that includes tostones rellenos (stuffed plantains) and fried pork with rice and peas. To drink, there’s a selection of beers and house sangria. 351 Calle Tapia, Santurce
Kasalta
This old-school bakery and deli is renowned for its Cubano sandwiches and hot, fortifying café con leche. Try anything in mallorca (sweet bread) and the sandwich de bistec, or a medianoche, a local favorite that’s similar to a Cuban sandwich but in a softer bread. President Barack Obama had breakfast at Kasalta when he came through Puerto Rico; a plaque marks the spot. 1966 Calle McLeary
El Churry
For more than 20 years, El Churry has been providing Puerto Rico with messy, meat-filled churrasco sandwiches via a fleet of food trucks, as well as a couple of storefronts. The Mixto combines griddled skirt steak and chicken with lettuce, tomato, ketchup-infused mayo, and (the key ingredient) potato sticks, all packed into a roll. It’s the perfect late night-drunk sandwich. Multiple locations
Where to Drink
JungleBird
Neon signs and palm trees animate this tropical lounge-gone-wild, with a DJ stationed near the bar. Drinks include tepeachecolada, a smart riff on the pina colada made with the fermented pineapple beverage tepache, and Adios Panalones, which combines vodka, pisco, pineapple, and spices. The changing snacks roster might include dan dan dumplings and snapper ceviche with kimchi. 254 Calle Canals, Santurce
La Factoria
A bar that evokes a spacious house, with a front room devoted to superior warm weather cocktails such as Mercado Roma, which combines mezcal and honey with a tart punch of ancho chile shrub and grapefruit. An interior room is devoted to wine drinks. The place is good enough to have scored a spot on the 2018 World’s 50 Best Bars list. 148 Calle San Sebastian
Where to Stay
Condado Vanderbilt
Built in 1919 by Frederick William Vanderbilt, the imposing beachside hotel has 108 suites, including a pair of tower suites, all with butler service and the island’s first Hammam spa. It’s also home to one of Puerto Rico’s most sophisticated restaurants, 1919, from chef Juan Jose Cuevas, whose prix fixe menu might start with caviar and include black tagliatelle with lobster and shrimp. 1055 Ashford Ave.
El San Juan Hotel
Designer Jeffrey Beers led a $65 million restoration of this iconic resort, which claims a whopping two miles of pristine coastline. Pay close attention to the 4,000-pound crystal fixture that gives the Chandelier Bar its name; it’s one of the largest in the world. 6063 Isla Verde Ave., Carolina
Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve
The island’s standard-bearer for luxury was originally developed by Laurance Rockefeller. It reopened in October 2018 with a brighter color palette in its 114 beachfront rooms, a new five-bedroom villa for families, and redone restaurants. Already beloved for its lush and expansive grounds, Dorado Beach got 300,000 new plants after the hurricanes—though none are as iconic as the ancient-looking ficus in front of the spa. 100 Dorado Beach Dr., Dorado
--With assistance from Nikki Ekstein.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Gaddy at jgaddy@bloomberg.net
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