We knew there were fancy fine dining restaurants throughout San Juan. It’s an under-rated food city, but to be honest, most of them didn’t really appeal to me. We were also traveling with our seven year old who couldn’t care less about elevated cuisine. So we knew fancy dinners were not going to be the norm on our recent trip.
But once I saw the menu for Verde Mesa, which focuses on locally sourced ingredients, I decided to figure out a way to go without causing a scene. Lunch!
The somewhat hidden dining room is eclectic with lots of fancy eclectic light fixtures, mirrors, and knick-kacks throughout and an exemplary staff. Our first meal in Puerto Rico set the bar super high.
We had great mocktails, a unique take on mangú (rolled into balls, stuffed with smoked pork, and plated on an herbal yogurt sauce), and their famous purple cloud dessert (a decadent puff of meringue wrapped in whipped cream and studded with berries).
But surprisingly, the one dish that I couldn’t stop thinking about was the one that sounded the most simple. Their namesake rice dish is their signature for a reason.
A big bowl of lightly fried rice was mixed well with a ton of vegetables from sweet peppers to earthy mushrooms to rich eggplant to complex caramelized onions and plump zucchini and pumpkin. For texture and an additional level of flavor, there were crunchy walnuts and tart cranberries. The entire concoction was topped with salty pecorino romano and a green herby pesto-like sauce.
Whew! It was a lot of ingredients but it was all masterfully balanced and had just the right amount of everything. In some ways, this was like the ultimate healthy vegetarian rice bowl but it truly worked on an elevated level that was unlike anything I’ve gotten at a bowl joint and unlike anything I’ve tried at a fine dining restaurant.
If all the fancy restaurants in Puerto Rico are this inventive and focused on quality and flavor, we would have been in for a very expensive trip! Price: $26
| VERDE MESA |
| 107 Calle Tetuan (at Calle San José), Old San Juan San Juan, Puerto Rico (787) 306-4668 |
| verdemesapr.com |
