PRICE:
Frommer's Very Highly Recommended

This bistro and bar, owned by husband-and-wife team Emilio Figueroa and Gigi Zafero, is one of the most sought-after restaurants in Old San Juan. The Nuevo Latino cuisine blends traditional Puerto Rican cookery with Spanish, Taíno, and African influences. The restaurant is set in a stately 1902 building that was originally a hair-tonic factory. Today you'll find a cheerful-looking dining room, where San Juan's mayor and the governor of Puerto Rico can sometimes be spotted, and a verdantly landscaped courtyard, where tables for at least 200 diners are scattered amid potted ferns, palms, and orchids. Live music (either Brazilian, salsa, or Latino jazz) is offered nightly as well as during the popular Sunday brunches. Menu items are updated interpretations of old Puerto Rican specialties. They include an excellent ceviche of halibut, salmon, tuna, and mahimahi; delicious crab cakes; criolla-style flank steak; and pan-seared tuna served with a sauce made from dark rum and essence of oranges. Everybody's favorite drink is a "Parrot Passion," made from lemon-flavored rum, triple sec, oranges, and passion fruit.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Puerto Rico, 9th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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