Tonight I had a hankerin' for some real Puerto Rican cuisine. Love their beans and rice, seafood, their bbq chicken, deep-fried everything, and tonight I wanted to try something I haven't had before: mofongo. It's mashed plantain served with some kind of meaty soup. oh and I also just HAD to have some flan, that delicious caramel-y dessert pudding, so light and fluffy on top with that sweet coffee-like syrup on the bottom....ahhh, heaven.
ok, so where to go for such heavenly entrees? Google for typical Puerto Rican food in Rincon, PR. Found a few, chose one in an easy enough location. Still a long drive down the mountain and back up again with the take-out fare, but would be worth it. Checked the website, translated the menu, googled directions, checked maps and phone GPS, as it was on a street without a name. ("where the streets have no name...uhhhh-huhhh.." thanks, U2) Hop into the car, stomach growling, here I go!
Here are a few short clips of the road down our mountain, just to give you an idea of what the perilous but beautiful drive is like: (ignore the random narration, these are random clips from previous trips)
I get there around 6 pm and the place is empty except for a woman sitting at the bar and a couple cooks in the back room. I ask if she speaks English, she says a little, but I think the important word there is "little". So we collaborate our 2 languages and I manage to communicate that I'd like my order to go, "para llevar". My order:
Surtido pequena (an appetizer sampler of all kinds of deep-fried, heart-attack-producing yummlies...)
Arroz con Camarones (rice and shrimp)
Mofongo Relleno con Pescado (traditional dish of mashed plantains with a fish soup over it)
Flan. (that wonderful, sweet, caramel-y dessert pudding)
She puts in my order, and I wait. Enjoying the scenery of this open-air restaurant....
Finally...my order is ready and bagged up, still hot and ready to take back up the mountain. I try not to look at the price as I sign the visa slip, and I"m off. I should've checked to see if everything is there, but I"m too excited to get these goodies home!
It's starting to get dark now. Getting used to driving this route. One nice thing about Puerto Ricans, they drive really crazy, just cutting in front of you constantly, but the thing is, if you're stuck trying to make a left hand turn into traffic, they actually expect you to cut them off, too, so they slow down, and will often motion for you to go, even if it backs up the long line of traffic behind them. nice. wish they'd do that in my home town.
Back to the house, same neighbors sitting outside on their porches, playing their music, same dogs barking at me, home sweet home.
yum yum!! The kids are especially enjoying the fried stuff, the chicken wings, deep-fried mozzarella sticks, bread thingys, pork thingys, and I am love-love-LOVING how they put so much heavenly cilantro in all the rice and beans here!!!! Much tastier than the Dominican variety, though that was good too. But then I realize, quite sadly, that there is NO. FLAN!!! That wonderful dessert I've been dying to try since planning this trip. I can't tell if the price on the receipt includes the flan or not, but I grab the receipt and get back in the car, after inhaling my portion of the goodies, of course.
This is ridiculous, I'm thinking, driving all the way back down this crazy mountain on these twisting roads that take me on the edges of cliffs, sometimes while passing a huge truck or bus on the narrow road...eek! All for the sake of a dish of flan. But I've got the windows wide open, romantic salsa music bouncing out of the radio, loving every minute of this solo adventure in Puerto Rico.
Return to the restaurant, my waitress friend is seated at the bar, devouring her own little dish of mofongo. I explain my predicament, she says she forgot the flan, but that I also did not pay for it, so the guy gets me my small portion, packaged up, I pay and go. adios!
Back up those crazy winding mountain roads. I wish I had a photo of this cherished treat that I worked so hard to get my hands on, but alas, as soon as I got home with it, I lost all control and it was gone before I had a chance to snap its picture.
So here, below, is a non-authentic, Googled photo of a piece of flan.
mmmmmmm, so good. and worth every mile.
