‘Puerto Rico’
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.
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.