Italian in Puerto Rico?? Oh yes!

It may sound surprising that we found one of the best Italian restaurants I’ve ever been to in Puerto Rico. Who would have imagined that? But it’s true. Il Perugino is not only a charming little place, but they are turning out some of the freshest and most delicious Italian food I’ve had in a long time. I’ve been to Italy twice and this reminded me of food that I ate in many restaurants there. From the outside, the restaurant beckons the eyes with it’s bright yellow stucco facade and dark wooden doors and shutters.

When you walk inside the quaint feeling continues. The walls are painted in the warm colors of Tuscany, sunset orange, sunflower yellow. There is a muted mural of the Italian countryside on one wall. Arched doorways and Italian accents like small Roman statues make you feel like you’re in a courtyard, not a restaurant.

Il Perugino features their own wine cave which is situated down a makeshift well in the middle of the main dining room. Waiters are decked out in vests and crisp white shirts. If you’re looking for a special occasion restaurant while in Old San Juan, Il Perugino fits the bill.

We started out with some great appetizers. Creamy tomato soup; a salad of freshly made goat cheese and arugula topped with basil pesto and chopped toasted walnuts; the Caprese salad – made from ripe red tomatoes and buttery mozzarella cheese; and we shared a plate of their homemade ravioli of the day – asparagus and ricotta. I never thought of using asparagus in ravioli filling but it was so good. I’m definitely going to have to try to recreate this one at home.



For dinner we all opted for the fresh fish specials, which included poached halibut and seared rare tuna. All were cooked perfectly! The sauce on the halibut was so light and flavorful. I wish I could have identified exactly what they used, but unfortunately I couldn’t. I’d love to recreate it if I could. All entrees, which were huge by the way, were served with crisp green beans and a picture perfect serving of mashed potatoes. The potatoes were so smooth and fluffy! I tried to avoid them but couldn’t hold myself back. So good!


While Il Perugino was definitely the most expensive meal we had in Old San Juan, it was also by far the best. You could easily go here and share one dish between two people to cut down the costs. But our group had spent the day tramping through the Puerto Rican rainforest and then frolicking on the beach so we were HUNGRY! And we downed two bottles of wine. Hey – what else is vacation for!
Here’s a pic of our group – my husband and I on the left and my brother and his girlfriend on the right. Two of the best traveling companions I know!

Puerto Rico: Old San Juan

On our first day we explored Old San Juan. It POURED down rain for nearly an hour so we got soaking wet, but we still enjoyed walking around, looking at El Morro and San Cristobal forts, and taking in the colorful architecture. Here are a few shots:

We started out with breakfast at La Bombanera – the oldest bakery in San Juan! Even Rachael Ray has been there on her $40 a day show:

This is a picture of their signature breakfast sandwiches, egg, ham or bacon, and cheese on a Puerto Rican-style danish (similar to a kaiser roll but much more buttery). It’s pressed on a hot grill and then topped with powdered sugar. The sweet and salty combo is quite tasty believe it or not:

Then we made our way to the forts in the rain:

Here are some shots around Old San Juan:

And after a long, boring tour at the Bacardi Rum Factory – I’m telling you please don’t waste your time doing this!! – we rewarded ourselves with dinner and mojitos at Raices:

They had great authentic Puerto Rican cuisine and the waitresses wore traditional island dress:

More tomorrow!

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Boozer’s Guide To Brunch

Our Vacation in Puerto Rico

About a week ago, we returned from a week long vacation in Puerto Rico. It was so much fun! We had originally booked to go to Cabo San Lucas but when the swine flu hit we decided to change our plans at the last minute. After many headaches of dealing with phone call after meaningless phone call to Travelocity – never book through them by the way – we finally changed our trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

We stayed at the Ritz Carlton hotel – I got a GREAT deal on rooms there through hotels.com. Very affordable for the Ritz! It was a beautiful hotel, top-notch service, clean beach and comfy beds. Here are some shots of the hotel and beach:

The lobby – where we spent several late evenings at the bar after returning from dinner in Old San Juan:

The view of the back and the pool:

The view of the hotel from the pool:

The pool and beach bar – they had the best nachos and mojitos! And the Puerto Rican Legacy was one of the best and strongest rum fruit drinks we had as well:

Finally – the beach!! It was pretty windy the day we got there, as you can see, but still very warm. Love the palm trees swaying:

Stay tuned! Tomorrow I’ll update with pics of gorgeous Old San Juan along with some food photos since this is after all, a food blog. Enjoy!

Our First Wedding Anniversary!

Our wedding anniversary is this Sunday. I truly can’t believe it’s been a year! We had such a beautiful wedding day and such a wonderful time. We’re going to Ocean City to celebrate for the weekend. I have a feeling it’s going to be a great year ahead

Grilled Eggplant Napoleons

There’s really no set recipe here, more like a method. This could be called Deconstructed Grilled Eggplant Parmigiana or Grilled Eggplant, Tomato and Mozzarella stacks. There are so many options! Basically, here are the steps and ingredients:

Grilled Eggplant Napoleons
3 small eggplants
2 tomatoes
12 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced into round discs
a handful of fresh basil, shredded
3/4 cup of homemade (or storebought works too I guess) pesto
olive oil
salt and pepper

I sliced three Italian eggplants into round discs. Drizzled them with olive oil till they were evenly coated and then seasoned with salt and pepper. I grilled the discs until they were tender. Then removed them from the grill and allowed them to cool slightly.

Next I sliced up two tomatoes and started making my stacks in a foil pan – or any baking dish would work. Piece of eggplant first, then tomato, then mozzarella, then eggplant again and then topped with mozzarella.

Finally I put the pan into the broiler to melt the cheese and give some warmth to the vegetables. When I removed them from the oven I sprinkled the shredded basil over top and then dolloped pesto sauce down as well. I served them with the extra pesto.

So summery and delicious! The basil came from my own little potted herb garden and it was so fragrant and fresh. If only I had room to grow eggplants too.

Red Wine-Rosemary Grilled Flank Steak with Roasted Dijon Chive Potatoes

Steak and potatoes. Quite possibly the most perfect meal. Nuff said. This was a very tasty marinade for the steak. I wish I had marinaded it a bit longer to break down the steak a bit more, but it was still good. Flank steak can be a little tough sometimes, so a long stay in a nice marinade can help ease that burden. I’m submitting this to Joelen’s Culinary Adventures Bobby Flay Recipes Contest.

I kind of threw together what I knew for the potatoes. I’ve been growing chives in a pot on my patio and they are thriving! I really wanted to find a way to use them. So I came up with this idea – which I’m sure has been done before a million other ways. I’m not claiming to have invented the wheel here. Just giving my take. So with that said, here’s the recipes.

Red Wine-Rosemary Grilled Flank Steak
source: Bobby Flay

3 cups dry red wine
4 small sprigs fresh rosemary
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 (2 pound) flank steak
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
To prepare the steak: Place the wine, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, onion, garlic and olive oil in a large shallow baking dish and stir to combine. Add the steak and turn to coat both sides. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Heat the grill, remove the meat from the marinade, season both sides with salt and pepper to taste and grill 6 to 7 minutes on each side (this was perfect timing for medium rare to medium). Let sit 5 minutes and slice against the grain.

Roasted Dijon Chive Potatoes

6 red potatoes
1 medium sized vidalia or sweet onion
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of whole grain mustard
juice of a small lemon
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
a small bunch of fresh chives, chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut up your potatoes into 1 inch cubes. Slice your onion into thin rings. Place in a baking dish. In a small bowl whisk together the mustards, lemon juice and olive oil to emulsify. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add more olive oil if needed to balance out the lemon. Pour the vinaigrette over the potatoes and onions and toss to coat. Roast for 45 minutes, or until potatoes are tender (may take longer depending on your oven). Remove and top with your chopped chives and serve.