Puerto Rico Part 1: New San Juan

The Northeast recently had a snow storm, and Boston certainly got it's fair share of the fluffy white stuff. Day 0 of the storm I was on 24 hour call at the hospital so didn't have to brave the weather. Day 1 post-storm was actually tolerable: everything was covered in a 2-foot layer of beautiful, clean, white. After that though, things went down-hill. By the time I left Boston for my vacation, our little world was layered in slush and what once was white had now become gray.

This vacation arrived with perfect timing, as I have thoroughly become tired of being cold, and what better location to escape the cold than Puerto Rico?

We arrived late in the afternoon two days ago and after a brief stint on the beach (the sun sets oddly early here), New San Juan was the decided location for dinner. None of us being too familiar with the area, our plan was to walk down the main street until a place caught our eyes.

That place ended up being a restaurant called Hierba Buena (translates to mean "good grass"). It was here that I got my first taste of mofongo: a dish made of fried green plantains that are mashed together and usually stuffed with either vegetables, chicken, pork/beef, or seafood (usually shrimp). However, at this restaurant the mofongo was served as a side, and rather than being stuffed, it was re-fried after the mashing, until it resembled something similar to a large tater-tot.

The entree that I chose was pulled pork - which although yummy, was overshadowed by the utter deliciousness of my giant mofongo tater-tot (who would have imagined that fried green plantains could taste so similar to fried potatoes?!)



(Big "thank-you" to Jenn for the recommendation! The mofongo did not disappoint)