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Restaurante Raices

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gracef
gracef
First Reviewer
3 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
1
Review
4
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Raices

  • May 16, 2008
  • Rated 3 of 5 by gracef from St. Louis, Missouri
Raices

We wanted to visit Raices in Caguas, Puerto Rico because of Anthony Bourdain's piece on it on Travel Channel. Walking around Old San Juan for a bit of lunch, we happened upon Raices Old San Juan. It was about 3pm and we were the only customers.

The wait staff was dressed in traditional Puerto Rican dress I guess. It was a rustic looking restaurant with mostly wooden interior. Beverages were served in tin/metal cups. We think this place must be pretty popular because there were at least a dozen staff milling around us as we sat.

I decided to go with the pork chop: Chuleta Kan Kan (15.95), which is what I believe Anthony Bourdain had on his show. Of course the mofongo (4.25) was a must! Although the mofongo was dry and unsatisfying, the chuleta was a definite winner with it's perfectly crackled skin and juicy meat. The chuleta is huge, it can be easily shared between 2 and a child. We ended up taking home most of the chuleta and created other dishes with it!

Also recommended is the chicharrones de pollo - bits of boneless chicken. We had this for appetizer (6.95) and my daughter loved it. It was coated and deep fried. Yummy!

My husband's Nydia's Special chicken didn't look anything like the photograph suggested. The chicken we got was a bland piece of chicken breast and nothing to write home about. When we asked the waitress why it didn't look like the photo, she said "a photo is a photo, it's not like the real thing" or something to that effect.

The cream of plantain was quite refreshing although not bursting with flavour. Guava in syrup and Puerto Rican white cheese is never to be repeated for me. The syrup overpowered the guava and all I could taste was sweet! The white cheese is nothing special.

I would go back to Raices again, and quite gladly! But next time, I'll stick to the outstanding Chuleta and Chicharrones and leave the experimenting for somebody else!

From journal 8 Days in Puerto Rico

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