Dining

Puerto Rican food is a unique and delicious mix of Spanish, African, Taíno, and American cuisine. If seafood is what you like, there are a lot of excellent restaurants that serve oceanic delicacies as their specialty. There are a number of steak houses located all over Puerto Rico. Several cities in the island also offer vegetarian and Asian cuisines.

Locals refer to Puerto Rican cuisine as ‘comida críolla.' Puerto Rican food is made by making use of local flavors and ingredients such as coriander, cacao, nispero, apio, and yampee.

You can begin your meals with starters like bacalaitos (crunchy cod fritters), surullitos (sweet plump cornmeal fingers) or empanadillas (crescent-shaped turnovers stuffed with lobster, crab, conch, or beef). Soups are also a well-liked start for lunch and dinner in Puerto Rico. Frijoles Negros (black-bean soup), sopón de pollo con arroz (chicken soup with rice), sopón de pescado (fish soup prepared from garlic, spices, onions and tomatoes, vinegar and sherry) are some of the tastiest soups.

Galician broth (caldo gallego), a Galician dish (Spain's northwestern province), is made with salt pork, white beans, ham, and berzas (collard greens) or grelos (turnip greens), and seasoned with highly spiced chorizos (Spanish sausages).

Puerto Rican dish, asopao, is a broth prepared either from chicken or shellfish and it is one of the most traditional foods.

The usual Puerto Rican meal includes white rice, beans, fried seasoned plantains (amarillos) and meat. A few of the well-known dishes are Tostones, fried green plantains, arroz con gandules (flavored rice with pigeon peas) and mofongo (mashed plantain or yucca with garlic and seasonings). Mofongo relleno is a tasty seafood or chicken combination in a mofongo layer. Sancocho is a blend of beef, pork and a variety of vegetables. Pasteles, widely eaten during Christmas, are a paste of mashed plantain or yucca, which is then covered in green banana leaves and stewed. Many delicious egg dishes are also served in Puerto Rican restaurants, particularly tortilla española (Spanish omelet), which is made from finely sliced onions, cubed potatoes, and olive oil.

Puerto Rican desserts generally include flan, custard-type dessert, and dulce de papaya, templeque (coconut pudding) and nisperos de batata (sweet-potato balls with coconut, cloves and cinnamon). Traditional Puerto Rican dessert is a bit of guava jelly with queso blanco (white cheese). Maví is a fermented drink prepared from tree bark and agua de coco is the juice of an unripe coconut offered ice-cold in a coconut shell. Puerto Rico also boasts of the world-renowned Pina Colada drink.

A. Top Restaurants

A La Banda

Address

Puerto del Rey Marina,

Fajardo

Puerto Rico

International cuisine is the specialty of this restaurant. The food will cost you around US $11 to US $20. It is open from Monday to Friday, noon to 9pm and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 11:30pm.

Lupi's Mexican Grill & Sports Cantina

Address

313 Recinto Sur,

San Juan,

Puerto Rico

This restaurant serves American and Texas Mexican food at pretty reasonable prices.

A la Brasa

Address

Road 693, Km 8.5

Dorado

Puerto Rico

This restaurant serves steaks, cooked in Brazilian style apart from other numerous cuisines, everyday for lunch as well as dinner. The prices range from US $11 to US $20.

Pamela's Caribbean

Address

1 Santa Ana St.

San Juan,

Puerto Rico.

Pamela's Caribbean, an expensively priced restaurant specializes in Caribbean and vegetarian cuisines and also serve steak.

Paso Fino Restaurant

Address:

Wyndham Martineau Bay,

HC 1 Box 9368

Vieques,

Puerto Rico.

This is another food joint where the food is on the expensive end and serves Caribbean dishes, seafood and steaks. It is open every day from 6:30am to 11am and from 6pm to10pm.

China Golden Crown

Address:

Parador La Cima,

Box 250465,

Aguadilla,

Puerto Rico

China Golden Crown is a moderately priced restaurant and serves Chinese and Asian cuisine.

Brasas Grill

Address

Rincon Beach Resort,

Rincon,

Puerto Rico

This restaurant serves Caribbean cuisine and has a special theme every night. The price ranges from US $10 to US $14. They serve lunch and dinner everyday from 7am to 10pm.

Hollywood Café

A café with an open-air bar and serving burgers, chicken and salads, it also offers live music on Weekend nights. The rates are less than US $ 10. It is open daily from 5:00pm to 1:00am.

Address

Carr.1, Km. 5.5, Bo. Cerrillo,

Ponce,

Puerto Rico

El Cielito

Address

Carr 715 Km 3.7 Bo Cercadillo,

Cayey,

Puerto Rico

This restaurant is famous for creating the dish named arañitas (grated and fried plantains). Here you can enjoy Puerto Rican cuisine from Tuesday to Thursday, 11am to 6pm, Friday to Sunday, from 11am to 8pm. It remains closed on Mondays. Food costs around US $11 to US $20.

Capriccio Ristorante

Address

12 Manuel Malave St.,

Añasco

Puerto Rico

At Capriccio Ristorante, you can eat Italian pastas and seafood, which cost around US $11 to US $22. This restaurant is open from Tuesday to Sunday, noon to 9pm.