puertorican food at its best!. i was searching for puertorican restaurants close to home for my husband, he was craving mofongo. i found raices and decided to take him to dinner for his birthday. what a pleasant surprise!
it is a small restaurant in a little strip mall but, wow, does it pack a punch! starting with the availability of 'kola champagne india'. this is a soft drink made by a puertorican company, i'm told similar to dr. pepper but, to me, it has no comparison. i was ecstatic that it was part of the menu! my husband had fresh passion fruit juice, he was on cloud 9.
the choice of appetizers is vast and very true to what we would eat in the island; sorullitos, bacalaitos, piononos, alcapurrias, pasteles, cuajito, to name a few. we opted for an alcapurria, bacalaito and a pionono. each one was better than the last one! they also have sancocho! we left that one for our next visit.
our entrees were mofongo, of course! but again, the selection is very broad. they offer the mofongostuffedwith 12 different proteins, they offer platters with different sides like arroz con gandules, and sandwiches and burgers. my husband had the mofongostuffedwith bistec encebollado (steak and onion), mine wasstuffedwith carne frita (fried pork). and when i say stuffed, i mean stuffed. it is served in a traditional wooden mortar, that's about 10 inches high! we kept digging in and it seemed those mortars were bottomless, we had to take some home. it was exquisite! the meats were savory and tender, and the mofongo was the best i've had, so moist we didn't need the broth... but we had it too!
we could barely breath at this point but the desserts were calling our names. we decided to order one tembleque (coconut custard) to share. it was so delicious we ended up ordering a second one. these were definitely homemade. the taste of coconut was ever present, it wasn't overwhelmingly sweet and the consistency was extremely light. at that point i decided we really had to leave because i could have eaten several more of those tiny treasures.
on to the service, once again a smashing success. we were welcomed with a smile and a warm greeting the moment we opened the door to come in. we felt at home all throughout dinner. we enjoyed a relaxing, well paced meal.
to top it off, the prices are excellent. the most expensive item is about $12, and you truly experience the taste of puerto rico. tie that to great service and outstanding food and you have a winner.
we're already making plans to go back with friends and family!