This restaurant is unassuming from the outside- but inside is very classy! Hed cook pork. What are those best ingredients?If you cook with whats around, everything makes a lot more sense. Lovely. By day you can stroll the market, surveying stalls with kaleidoscopic displays of fruits and vegetables, perhaps while sipping a cloudy cup of cafe con leche. Whenever you say something is del pas, they automatically want that. But Jose Enrique and his bright, sharp, fresh flavors have changed my mind. All were amazing. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. The chicken broth was surprisingly good. The flavors and textures were superb. El Bosquecito Familiar. Entrees $12-$58 Cuisine Type Puerto Rican. Though there are changes, there are numerous staples in the menu that have gained a favorable reputation for this renowned Puerto Rican restaurant. This was one of our favorite places we dined while staying in San Juan. Please enter a valid email and try again. If sardines come in, then sardines are going right on the menu. The Seafood salad, aka octopus ceviche, was perfect. The Ice Cream Flight was surprisingly delicious. By the time the meal came around, it would be 11. The Colarrubia fish was on a wow level too. But what you usually see in my restaurants is the opposite of that. Entrees had spare descriptions: Picadillo, rice, egg, plantain, or Pork chop, apio [celery], tomato fondue. Appetizers were itemized with only a word or two: salad, crab, fried pork.. He has no need for a tweezer crew to assemble a dish. The servers were fantastic. As the dish comes out, seeing the entire fried fish on display is a sexy way to get your appetite going for the main course. This hip restaurant by the Plaza del Mercado serves fresh, fantastic Puerto Rican food. I am starting this years blogging by sharing one of Dan and my favorite restaurants in the World Jose Enrique in sunny San Juan, Puerto Rico! Fresh. The menu changes daily, try the Red . Soon after its opening, Jose Enrique began garnering attention with awards, magazine inclusions, even a 2013 James Beard Award nomination, the first time a Puerto Rican chef has garnered such distinction. 317 C. de la Fortaleza, San Juan, 00901, Puerto Rico. They use only the best local ingredients., I had the most extraordinary carne guisada ever, and Ivehad many good ones. In Puerto Rico, so many restaurants arent Puerto Rican. The quality of the meat was incredible, not a single chewy section, not one tendon. Fried porgy over mashed sweet potatoes. Always go with a beach chair, not a towel. Enrique, which was established at La Placita de Santurce and Its Bill Addison is Eater's restaurant editor, roving the country uncovering Americas essential restaurants. felt very lucky to get a reservation on short notice. "It doesn't matter if you call the party for tomorrow at noon; everyone's on island time," Jose Enrique says about throwing a party on his home island of Puerto Rico. French food. The Puerto Rican cheeses were a bit lighter. How do you get other Puerto Ricans on board with your philosophy?Puerto Rican locals are easy. Photo: Dianne Pulliza. Chef Jose Enrique, born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, graduated in 1998 from the Culinary Institute of America in New York. This was my first schnitzel made of swordfish with a side of seasoned avocado - unusual and delectable. Very delicious and a good pair with the dense chocolate cake! Other Projects In San Juan, Enrique also runs Capital, a popular brasserie, and the coffeehouse Miel. The open and casual vibe is easy-going and it's a perfect chill spot for food and drink that won't break the bank. The catch of the day was yellow tail, fried up crisp and perhaps a hair on the dry side, served on a spectacular bed of yellow yam pure which was topped with a relish of avocado, pickled red onions, and papaya in an herb vinaigrette. CONDADO, Puerto Rico During my first visit to Puerto Rico several years ago, I spent lots of time exploring the island in search of its best cheap eats, seeking We opted to split 2 desserts between the 3 of us: a chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream and homemade whipped cream and a trio of Puerto Rican cheeses, slightly brled, topped with 3 different Puerto Rican marmalades. boneless pork shoulder roast with fat cap (5 pounds), Our Favorite Best New Chef Recipes of All Time, Cold Saimin Salad with Soy-Ginger Grilled Pork, Pollo la Brasa (Peruvian Roast Chicken). Maybe that was true in the past but not today. A shot of the restaurants hot sauce flared the flavors. We ordered the chefs special and WOW we understood immediately why it was a menu staple. AMAZING. The red snapper is a soft, flaky white fish thats dipped in a batter and fried. We'll get back to you soon. Inside is pretty casual, with a few paintings scattered around. My recommendation is to combine the flesh of the fried fish with the mash, and the papaya and avocado salsa and devour your plate! Was seated in half empty restaurant. The Banana Ice Cream was delicious, rich and creamy, with authentic banana flavors. Staff were very friendly and attentive. Any information published by Cond Nast Traveler is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. It can easily take 90 minutes or more to snag a table at Jose Enrique during prime dinner hours. We started with the Red Sangria, which is strong and not at all sweet. After fifteen minutes sitting without any attention, we got up and left. We were never rushed and the staff were friendly and informative. According to the Associated Press, the government of Puerto Rico has started using Twitter in an effort to help reduce violent crime through the "Follow To Unfollow" (@ follow2unfollow) initative. Having been the chef at one of 30 best restaurants in the world by Food and Wine, Enrique might be a "culinary renegade" but he knows how to highlight fresh Puerto Rican produce. Aji Dulce. Jose Enrique. Excellent service, creative and fresh cuisine. The bartender poured me a shot of locally distilled Don Q Gran Aejo a blend of aged rums that was smooth and mellow and prodded me to order the fried pork to begin. But I did notice that the true-minded Puerto Rican dishes served in these restaurants were uniformly more satisfying than the ones that werent. Highly recommend - our best meal in PR this past week. Read all his columns in the archive. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Reservations highly recommended via Resy. #3 of 18 Restaurants in Trujillo Alto. Just the basics Review. Entrees were churrasca - perfectly medium rare,tender and not chewy, and the fish of the day - fried snapper fillets over the best root vegetable pure that was seasoned with a local sauce. You can see the prices on the menu above, which are not crazy for what you are getting. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Add the pork shoulder, seal the bag and turn to coat. Photos: Jose Enrique, Since opening his eponymous restaurant in San Juan in 2007, chef Jose Enrique has steadily gained a following both in his native Puerto Rico and beyond. Al poco tiempo establece la Hacienda Teresa, una plantacin de caa de azcar, y comienza una familia en Ponce. The crudo was PERFECTION. The dish is truly a masterpiece; every ingredient on the dish complemented one another, which culminated in a magnificent combination of flavors. Preheat the oven to 400. He also founded the town of Mercedita, named after his wi Don Juan SerrallsDon Juan expandi enormemente el negocio familiar del cultivo de caa de azcar y fund la tradicin de elaborar el ron en la familia Serralls. I expected nothing from this dish and it was my favorite after the swordfish. Music is also a huge must. At his restauranta casual place in an old house where weekend parties erupt on the street outsidehe writes his menu on white boards, which allows him to add dishes in the middle of service. For appetizers we had chicharrn and the fish strip goujonettes, very good. Bringing It Home Enrique cooked around the world, in Belgium, France and the US, before returning to the neighborhood where he was born, to open his flagship restaurant. Theres always going to be space for Italian, French, and Thai food, but we should be proud of our Puerto Rican food. We also ate at the two most expensive restaurants in PR and would say that Jose Enrique was the one we would classify as "must visit" if you are a foodie.More, We chose Jose Enrique because Gordon Ramsey called him one of the best chefs in Puerto Rico highlighting local ingredients and they cooked together on one of Gordons TV shows. In January 2022, Lucas Sin, one of Food & Wine's best new chefs of 2021, took a $100 taxi from San Juan straight to a nearly four-hour dinner at Bacoa (then another $100 taxi back), describing the . Menu changes daily; appetizers $8-$15, entrees $23-$50, desserts $9. Great food. Cut tubers and pumpkin into large dice, add to pot with water, and season to taste. strayed since. JOSE ENRIQUE IN SAN JUAN - RESTAURANT | FROMMER'S. Jose Enrique. Chefs are spotlighting their culinary heritage on tasting menus, at buzzy pop-ups, and at new restaurants across the country, By submitting your email, you agree to our, Chef Jose Enrique on Puerto Rico, His New Restaurant, and Winning Best NewChef, 176 Calle Duffaut, San Juan, 00907, Puerto Rico, KFC is bringing back its breadless fried chicken sandwich, and its 2010 all over again, Reba McEntire is the latest country superstar getting into the hospitality game, and her Atoka, Oklahoma restaurant feels welcoming indeed, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Pandan. Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Saturday. Our Rating Neighborhood Santurce & Ocean Park Hours Sun-Thurs 11:30am-11pm, Fri-Sat 11:30am-midnight Transportation Bus: 5 Phone 787/725-3518. The first few hours the pork is belly up, so all the fat drips down and confits the belly. Blood sausage also appeared on the menu. But if you stop to concentrate on the contrasts of the textures, the alchemy of the acids, and the meticulous temperatures of the meat and fish, you know youre enjoying the efforts of a remarkable professional talent. Esperanza. A family dinner, for instance, might include roasting pork for eight to 10 hours, butchering it on a huge table and serving it with avocado salad, pickled red onions, local cheeses, bread and tons of hot sauce. In late 2013, hell open a restaurant in the eco-minded El Blok hotel in Vieques.Story of DiscoveryUntil recently, Id never been blown away by Puerto Rican food; the dishes Id tried were always a little heavy and a little bland. The fish lays on a portion of earthy deep flavored yam mash and everything is topped with a classic Caribbean combination of papaya and avocado. He has no need for a tweezer crew to assemble a dish. Thats all you have. 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