Puerto Rican Good Eats

By Parentingsmh @parentingsmh
One of my favorite things about traveling is experiencing new and different food.  Maybe you haven't noticed but I'm a die hard foodie and I'm not afraid to admit it.  I love to eat and will eat almost anything as long as its cooked right and tastes good. 
If you travel a lot, one thing you will notice is much of your day is spent looking for food, not intentionally, but by necessity, unless you're staying somewhere with a kitchen.  You wake up, shower, get dressed, and start thinking about where to get breakfast.  You make plans for the days events and make sure there is a designated lunch spot nearby.  You regroup back at your hotel after a day out only to start planning where to have dinner.  This goes until your flight back home. My advice, is to stay clear away from the offerings at your hotel or resort (unless they have free breakfast, you can't pass that up, cause technically, it ain't really free).  Go local or go home.  What's the point on traveling if you don't partake in the local fare.   If you're headed to Puerto Rico, here are my favorites: Antejitoes del Katrinche (Katrina's Restaraunt) - I don't know Katrina, but whoever she is, or whoever they have in that kitchen, can throw down.  OMG the food was awesome.  The place is not fancy to say the least, but it it's beach front and has a down home atmosphere. If you can stand the birds (in cages), you'll be just fine.  the restaurant is in a little golf resort town called Dorado east of San Juan.
What we ate We had a party of 6 (including the pip squeaks) so we just got a bunch of stuff and shared it around the table.  We had empanadillas (small empanadas - stuffed fried or baked pastry), conche salad, octopus salad, mofungo (mashed plantain), carne fritas con tostones, arroz con pollo (chicken with yellow rice), and so much more. 

Emapanadillas

Octopus Salad


Conch Salad

We loved it so much, we ate there a second night and it was even better.  They had a great red snapper.  Their seafood was fresh and everything came out hot and just in time. Cafeteria Mallorca - This restaurant is right in Old San Juan.  It was a great little local place with a pretty good bakery.  They were named for the huge sweet bread they make called mallorcas.  You know had to get some.  The cafe was a small but homey place with uniformed waiters. What we ate They were friendly and fast.  It was like down home fast food.  The food was good and came out quickly.  My mother in law ordered the chicken soup and seriously, no one could keep their hands off of it.  It was the best chicken soup we've had in a restaurant, with huge pieces of chicken.  I had carne fritas and tostones (fried pork and fried green plantain), the boys had the chicken mofungo.   Mofungo is a really good dish for kids.  It's mashed plantain that can be mixed with different types of meat then covers with a yummy butter sauce. Very easy to eat, and filling.