Situated in what appears to be a former home in Oakland is an Indian restaurant that goes by the name of Tamarind. For a long time I had heard that this was a good as far as Indian food in Pittsburgh goes, so I finally got the chance to try it and found it didn’t exactly follow the classic pattern of Indian restaurants. For one, the menu had a wide variety of dosas.
Great Harvest is like the small mom and pop answer to Panera. It’s a franchise, but one that allows the owner to make the store truly unique. Take, for example, the Great Harvest that opened up in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty not too long ago. It features a bunch of local Pittsburgh food, plus sandwiches and breads chosen by the owner. And since the afternoon was ripe for a sandwich, Great Harvest seemed like a good place to be.
Down in East Liberty, a fairly new pizza spot called Pizza Taglio has opened up to bring some unique new flavors to Pittsburgh. It claims to be Roman style, which I suppose is different from Napoli style, but not so different that it doesn’t involve dough, cheese and toppings. The place doesn’t do cups, so all drinks are bottled or canned, but it does do good music to somewhat make up for it.
I don’t often go out for breakfast, and even less so when I’m on vacation, but Rincon was different. For one, the free breakfast offered by our hotel was slightly less than terrible and for two, there was a breakfast spot known to be one of the best overall restaurants in Rincon. Thus, we made our way up to the top of a very scary hill to breakfast it up at The English Rose.
For my last night in Puerto Rico, I wanted to eat something that would leave a lasting impression on my stomach. Thus, I put out a search for the best mofongo in Rincon. This pointed us to a pretty fancy place that only seemed to be for tourists, but it also pointed us to Rincon Tropical, a place that seemed much more local.
Rincon is kind of Puerto Rico’s surfing haven and no beach exemplifies this better than Maria’s Beach. Unfortunately, I have never surfed and was not about to try here, but I was interested in trying some food at Calypso Cafe, a place that seemed to embody the entire vibe of the beach.
As we made our way across the entire island of Puerto Rico toward Rincon, we realized we would be arriving a bit later (because the island is filled with “highways” with stoplights every mile or so) than normal dinner time on a Sunday. This was concerning because we needed food and thought we might have trouble finding a place. Fortunately, La Cambija was open until 9:00 and we arrived at 8:30.
While staying at an Airbnb (in Fajardo) for the first time, I felt there would be no better way then to get a food recommendation than by asking our hosts. While we had a panaderia from Yelp in mind, they pointed us to a place called El Meson, which we were told had great sandwiches for breakfast or otherwise. When we walked in, the first thing my buddy said was that it looked like a Puerto Rican Panera Bread. This was hardly a compliment, but the place was pretty crowded so we figured we should give it a shot.
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.