Christmas Dinner in Puerto Rico
 

We will be in Puerto Rico for Christmas week - first time away from home for the holiday. Any suggestions for a great restaurant for Christmas Dinner? Called Mark's at the Hotel Melia in Ponce and they said they were closed on that day! Thanks and Happy Holidays to all!

Annie,<BR><BR>Where will you be staying in PR- San Juan, Ponce, etc.?<BR>

Adrienne, we will be staying in Ponce but we have rented a car and don't mind driving a bit to get to a restaurant so all suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks.

You should definitely make some calls. Puerto Rico pretty much closed down on X-mas day. A lot of the restaurants will be closed. You may have better luck finding one in San Juan.

Hi Annie! There are many choices depending on budget, type of food, type of environment that you want, etc. Unfortunately, I have never had dinner in Ponce, so I don't have any suggestions for that.<BR><BR>The traditional Christmas meal in Puerto Rico is roasted pig (lech&oacute;n asado). The area of Guavate in Cayey (in the mountains between Ponce and San Juan) is famous for it's roasted pig. These are not "restaurants" though - they are more like glorified shacks that roast pig. They will serve you the food in paper plates and plastic utensils, but the food is glorious and super cheap. Besides lech&oacute;n, they will serve you rice with pigeon peas (a cross between a bean and a lentil), and a variety of tubers. Even if you prefer to go somewhere nicer for Christmas, you may want to stop here on another day for a non-touristy taste of Puerto Rico. Or, if you prefer, they will pack it up for you and you can take it back to your hotel. The only web-link that I could find on the lechoneras was this one: http://www.mcayey.com/ihotelera.htm. Call ahead to make sure that they are open.<BR><BR>You might want to check out this list of Mesones Gastronomicos, which are good, typical restaurants that are Tourism-office approved (there's links to the websites, when available):<BR>http://www.travelandsports.com/espanol/mg.htm<BR><BR>For a really great (and expensive)Nouveu Latino meal, some of the best places in San Juan are<BR>Chayote, Pikayo, Ramiro's and Chef Marisol. For traditional Puerto Rican food, a really nice restaurant is Ajili-Mojili. For traditional continental food Augusto's has been highly recommended to me, and for traditional Spanish cuisine, Compostela is suposed to be very good too. Call ahead becuase Puerto Ricans celebrate Christmas dinner the night before (Nochebuena), so some restaurants may be closed on Christmas day.<BR><BR>The new Travel and Leisure (DEC 2001)has a section on San Juan too, that includes restarants.

We live in PR and would rec the following:<BR>1.Pikayo: located in the new PR Museum of Art in San Juan. Outstanding, innovative cuisine in a beatiful, chic setting<BR>2.Augustos (Santurce): Number1 or 2 place in PR<BR>3.Hotel restaurants: Mortons at the Caribe Hilton, Ruth Chris at the SJ Intercontinental, The Palm at the El San Juan Hotel<BR>Good luck<BR>Bill<BR>

Thank you all so much for the great information, tips and suggestions for Christmas Day dinner. We are looking forward to a dining adventure that day. I am saving all your suggestions for dinner in my trip file for ideas for all the other days we are there. This will be quite a change from our traditional Christmas dinner at home here in the Boston area. Thanks again!

Annie,<BR><BR>I do not know if the restaurant will be open on Christmas, but you should look into the restaurant at Horned Dorset Primavera in Rincon. <BR><BR>www.horneddorset.com<BR>1-800-633-1857