The Caribbean - Restaurant Recommendations in Puerto Rico - B/W San Juan and Fajardo

We are staying at the El Conquistador for a long weekend in March and I was hoping to get some good restaurant recommendations in the area.

We will have a rental car and do not mind taking a drive for some decent food.

We don't want to dine on Italian food in Puerto Rico, so something with a local or Caribbean flare would be very appreciated. We debated not renting a card and relying solely on the El Con, but heard that the food is not great there. So, any suggestions would be very appreciated.

We will have a rental car and do not mind taking a drive for some decent food.

smart choice, keep the car.

A bunch in this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/caribbean/746617-san-juan-puerto-rico.html

Also try and find some "Kioscos" such as those by the Luquillo Beach, I’ve seen others as well while driving around the island.

San Juan, Puerto Rico- Eating on the beach is a gritty business. But it’s where you find the comida verdadera, the real food, of the island. Not the pallid hotel version, but fried in front of your eyes in a metal trough of boiling oil over a fire built of scrap two-by- fours.

Get a bunch of food writers together, and like a fleet of heat-seeking missiles they'll quickly find the good stuff. Here for a conference, we homed in on this beach lined with food stands, some with tables and chairs, others just a walk-up counter with fritters and fruits under glass and Cokes on ice.
Mofongo makers Ari Estevez and Maria Morales have beautiful skin. Must be the sea breeze. Or the emollient quality of the air in the Piñones beach kiosko where they spend the day frying various types of meat-filled dough.
We order mofongo con carne frita, the plantain mush everyone talks about here, with bits of fried pork. Estevez, who seems to be an apprentice, removes a peeled unripe plantain from its water bath in a plastic bowl and chops it on a wood cutting board. She pivots and dumps the starchy fruit into a wok-like frying pan full of oil, and Morales, the senior cook, takes over, stirring the sizzling chunks and wiping her forehead.

Once the bananas are golden, Morales removes them from the oil and puts them into a cardboard box that once held a case of Coke. Estevez then loads the nuggets into a wooden pilón and mashes them with a fat pestle. She adds what she calls mantequilla ("butter," but it's from a large can labeled Mrs. Filbert's Golden Margarine) and Adobo Criollo, a blend of salt, garlic, oregano and turmeric.

While we wait for the mofongo, we sample the other crispy delights in the glass case that faces Route 187, about a mile from the cornstarch-clean beaches of Isla Verde.
Morales plops the raw dough into a large sea-grape leaf and molds it into a crib for the filling she scoops from plastic bins. She tucks the meat into a swaddled shape, and into the oil it goes, to emerge golden and steaming.

Alcapurrias (al-ca-PURR-ee-as): dough made from unripe plantains, tinted with achiote (annato-seed oil), filled with crab or ground beef, then fried.

Piononos (named for Pope Pius IX, whose nickname is Pio Nono): sweet, ripe plantain dough cones filled with meat or cheese, then fried.

Bacalaito (back-a-la-ITO): salt cod, flour and parsley formed into tortilla shapes, then fried.

Empanadillas (em-pah-na-DEE-yas): flour dough half-moons filled with ground meat, seafood or cheese, then fried.

Tostones (toast-OWN-es): green plantain chunks soaked in salty garlic water, fried, mashed, then fried again.

Estevez then loads the mofongo into an old plastic container that could have held cottage cheese, molding the mash into a little castle that she places on a dish with a palm-tree motif, along with shredded iceberg lettuce and tomatoes doused in the fun-to-say aji-li-mojili, a vinegary garlic-pepper sauce.
My fellow food journalists and I descend on the platter like a swarm of locusts, which, if you swaddled them in plantain dough, would make a fine beach snack.
Some versions of this starchy staple go back into the oil to become mofongo fritters, but at El Jardin de Damaris, once-fried is enough.
Like the many permutations of words for "snow" in Alaska, Puerto Ricans have myriad names for "fried dough." Whether they're called frituras, pastilillos, cuchifritos or buñuelos, you can bet they'll be greasy, but in a good way. Look for clean oil and ask for your frituras recien hecha (recently made) to assure a crisp experience.

Grampa BamaVol's favorite German restaurant was actually in San Juan. Zipperle's, I think, is the name. It was there my first trip in 1964 or 1966 and was still there last time I was in San Juan about 4 years ago. Near a big mall. Your hotel concierge should be able to direct you.

Metropol, Cuban/Puerto Rican cuisine, very close to the airport, quite good, and about 20-25 mins from El Conquistador taking Rte. 66. I'd go for lunch, since it's quite casual IMO, almost bordering on dumpy. But the food is well worth it

If you wanna venture into San Juan, the options are... well, abundant.

You're not the first person to tell me that.

One of friends from my time spent in Florida told me his favorite Italian restaurant is also in PR, which I find humorous since he's a first generation Italian-American.

Another good, non indigenous restaurant is 311 Trois Cent Onze, French Restaurant in Old San Juan.

The new kid on the block, Budatai (asian/PR fusion), isn't bad... but it's too inconsistent for me to recommend.

We are staying at the El Conquistador for a long weekend in March and I was hoping to get some good restaurant recommendations in the area.

We will have a rental car and do not mind taking a drive for some decent food.

We don't want to dine on Italian food in Puerto Rico, so something with a local or Caribbean flare would be very appreciated. We debated not renting a card and relying solely on the El Con, but heard that the food is not great there. So, any suggestions would be very appreciated.

The Metro is perfect. It's got good authentic pr food. There is also a hotel across from the cruise ship port it has a small restaurant and it's good. I really do not like PR , it's the worst place in the world IMO. You can find good food , but, it isn't easy. Things are just not as clean as in the U.S. Don't expect a lot in terms of ambiance either in a restaurant. the good restaurants there are simple places with home cooked type of food.

The Metro is perfect. It's got good authentic pr food. There is also a hotel across from the cruise ship port it has a small restaurant and it's good. I really do not like PR , it's the worst place in the world IMO. You can find good food , but, it isn't easy. Things are just not as clean as in the U.S. Don't expect a lot in terms of ambiance either in a restaurant. the good restaurants there are simple places with home cooked type of food.
Not a word in this post is what I consider to be true.

The Metropol is good, a bit divey, but good. It is not authentic PR food though. It is closer to Cuban food IME.

The hotel is the Sheraton Old San Juan and it has a decent burger place.

It is actually quite easy to find good food... if your spanish is any good, check out www.sal.pr or conversely, ask. There is no shortage of good dining options in Puerto Rico.

And if PR is the worst place in the world, I take it you haven't been many places. I suggest you stick to WDW if you want a clean, safe place. Don't go to Disneyland... it's clean, but the areas outside the park, not so much.