Friday, December 14, 2007

Beautiful San Juan

Friday morning, after we luxuriated over cafe con leche and mallorcas tostadas, we set off to see the historical sights of the old city. Old San Juan is the original settlement and is a small island, connected to the rest of the city by bridges and tree-lined boulevards. So it's very easy to walk around in a few hours, with the vista of the ocean all around. The San Cristobal Fort and El Morro are these incredible, massive structures with walls that looked about 25 feet deep.

After visiting both sites and taking tons of pictures we had worked up quite an appetite. We stopped at a place called Mojito's, which was on the tourist strip but was packed with locals, which is a decent indicator that we wouldn't be eating slop. Dad got bistec encebollado, which simply translates as steak with onions, but it's an iconic Puerto Rican dish that I love and his was delicious. As a side note, the version served at our local Peurto Rican dinery, once called Niagara Cafe and now known as Wishbone, is beyond nasty. I can't fathom how people think their food is a good representation of Puerto Rican cuisine. It's grey and oily and ugh...I can't go on. Anyway, I got sierra en escabeche, which is fish in a sort of pickled sauce composed of olive oil, vinegar, olives and capers. The sauce was fantastic, the fish was kind of strong. Both meals were served with white rice and beans to ladle over the top. I have to admit, I think mine are better. I was thoroughly underwhelmed by this ubiqutous dish all over the island. This is kind of odd, considering that rice and beans served as my introduction to the flavors of Puerto Rico and led to my love affair with recao, roast pork, sweet, caramelized plantains and golden pillows of pasteles graced with avocado slices.

We retired to our rooftop oasis for an afternoon siesta in the sun....



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

mm that sounds wonderful i wish i was there instead of here in buffalo about to take my last crappy exam which i am sure to fail....
but i do think i have a present for you that you will love-tess

Anonymous said...

so did u have my favorite drink (the mojito of course!) at mojito's or what??