El Mofongo

This restaurant is named after one of Puerto Rico’s most popular dishes, Mofongo. It’s a mound of fried mashed plantain stuffed with pork rinds, seafood or a combination of all of them. This Puerto Rican dish culture spawned from a combination of African, Taino (the natives) and European ancestry that continued to blend long after slavery there was abolished. It’s very similar to island neighbors in the Dominican Republic who call this mangu. This mofongo is like opening a time capsule of flavors from the island’s deep tumultuous past. The Spaniards imported the beef and pork, the Taino lived on a diet of corn and seafood, and the enslaved Africans brought with them vegetables like okra, ackee and beans. Pernil (roasted pork shoulder) with fried plantain is a must if you visit the restaurant. The carne or chuela frita are very tasty but fried hard, which reminds me of the West African method of cooking. Puerto Rican food is not spicy at all but is packed with various flavors you may not be accustomed to.