Being a part of the Caribbean, it’s kind of unsurprising that Puerto Rico has a wide variety of Mexican food. Nonetheless, it was pretty surprising how many time we were recommended Lolita’s somewhere between Fajardo and Luquillo. And apparently it wasn’t exactly a secret spot, because the parking lot was filled beyond capacity and there was a line out the door. Fortunately, that line and the people in the restaurant all appeared to be locals and not gringos like us.
It all began with a quick stop for some Medalla Light beers and some appetizers, but after taking a look at the menu and seeing the food our fellow customers were eating, it became apparent that Bananas in Esperanza would become our dinner that night in Vieques. Bananas, like Duffy’s from the night before, is kind of like a beach bar with mainland American influence.
A few miles off of the coast of mainland Puerto Rico is Vieques Island. It’s reasonably small, but still supports a couple of towns, one of which is Esperanza, which caters to tourists a bit more than elsewhere. It was there that we found Duffy’s, a bar and grill with food you could probably find anywhere in the rest of the US, but with a distinct island vibe to it.
Puerto Rico has its fair share of fast food chains, including probably more Church’s Chickens than I have ever seen. But one thing that I had never seen before was Pollo Tropical. Pollo Tropical does appear to have locations in the mainland United States, but I had never seen it before stopping in Fajardo.
In a desperate search for good, authentic Puerto Rican food before leaving San Juan, we made our way to El Patio de Sam, once again in the old city. There we were greeted by perhaps one of the best waitresses in San Juan, as she not only made us feel welcome, but convinced us to start our meal off with an appetizer.
The name Verde Mesa is a little bit frightening for a restaurant. For one, it doesn’t really follow the rules of Spanish, weirdly translating into “table green.” The other reason it’s frightening is because of that whole “green” thing. It’s definitely a vegetarian-friendly spot, but it came with really high recommendations and the restaurant we really wanted was full.
Upon arrival in San Juan, I had pretty much only one goal: to eat well. You see, I had been to San Juan before starting a meat blog, and I knew that I had missed out on some good stuff. Thus I convinced my friends to follow me to El Jibarito in Old Town. There was a decent wait when we arrived so we knew it had to be a good place.
The Royal Park Hotel in Rochester is home to a restaurant called the Brookshire Restaurant, which apparently has one of the best brunches in the metro Detroit area, so we set out there to finish off a whirlwind Detroit food weekend that took me to more than one place I had never even considered visiting back when I was a Michigan resident.
I don’t exactly come from a family that is into fancy food. This may be apparent in my reviews, but if not it should be apparent in the fact that for my mom’s 60th birthday all she wanted to do was eat at Heroes in Waterford, Michigan. You see, Heroes isn’t in any way a bad place, but it is at its basest level a bar and grill. A bar and grill, however, with whitefish that is too good for its own good.
Strangely situated in the middle of West Bloomfield, Michigan is one very authentic Chinese restaurant. It’s called Shangri-La and has the endorsement of not one, but two Chinese/Taiwanese people I know that have been there. It also has the endorsement of all the other people that show up on the weekends for their dim sum.