Puerto Ricans and Angelinos have a new restaurant to enjoy. Old San Juan, a new Pueto Rican restaurant has opened in Los Angeles. Old San Juan Restaurant is the second Puerto Rican restaurant in Los Ageles. The first one was Mofongo restaurant, in North Hollywood, which we wrote about sometime ago.
Old San Juan Restaurant is located in the area of Los Angeles called Atwater Village. The exterior of Old San Juan Restaurant, is painted gray and white just like La Fortaleza, the Governor's Mansion in Puerto Rico. The restaurant is comfortable with tables and booths, and is decorated with pictures and decorations of Old San Juan and Puerto Rico. Old San Juan Restaurant offers all the traditional Puerto Rican dishes
you expect: pasteles, arroz con gandules, lechon, alcapurrias, etc.
When we visited we tried a number of entree and appetizers from their extensive menu. We had: Bacalaitos, alcapurrias, sorullitos, pasteles, camarones al ajillo (garlic shrimp) with arroz con gandules, carne guisada (beef stew) with white rice and amarillos, pastelon (plantains and ground beef) and arroz con gandures and arugula salad. For desert it was flan de queso (caramel cream cheese custard).
We enjoyed the ambiance, the music and everyone was very friendly and attentive. When you are in the restaurant you forget that you are actually in Los Angeles and not in Puerto Rico. The owner and executive chef of the restaurant is Chef Luis Castro who used to be the chef at Madres, the former Jenefer Lopez restaurant in Pasadena. Old San Juan Restaurant has live music, lechon a la varita (pork on a stick) on Friday's, a daily buffet of Puerto Rican food on weekdays and an area for private parties. Call the restaurant for more information.
If you have plans to visit Puerto Rico, go to Old San Juan or Mofongo restaurant and try some of the Puerto Rican cuisine before your trip.
Christmas in Puerto Rico is celebrated like no other place in the world. The Christmas season in Puerto Rico is long. The Christmas celebration starts right after Thanksgiving and continues through the mid of January, a long and delightful party time. Christmas day, New Years, and Three Kings Day on January 6, are all Holidays. The Holidays in Puerto Rico are spent with family and friends, and there is always a party almost every day, either at a friends house, relatives, or at work.
There are many events during Christmas time in Puerto Rico: Festivals, boat parades, and New Year's Eve party celebrations. Most of the big parties are held at the hotels, such as the New Year's Eve party. Puerto Ricans come out dress to impress, and to party all night long. Smaller parties are held at relatives and friends homes.
Food is an important element during the Christmas Holidays in Puerto Rico. Some of the typical dishes this time of the year are: Arroz con gandules, pasteles and lechon ( pork). Puerto Ricans go to the countryside to eat pork roasted on a spit, it is very popular on January 6 ( Three Kings Day). The Holiday of January 6, (El Dia de Los Reyes) is as important as Christmas Day. Children receive gifts on both days, on December 25th the gifts come from Santa, and on January 6, they come from the Three Kings.
Aguinaldos (carols) are the custom sounds this time of the year in the island. Puerto Ricans get together to sing and dance. A typical custom, but not practiced very much these days, are the parrandas or asaltos. It is like Christmas caroling, but with an edge. The custom here, is to go to a relative or a friends house after midnight ( or wait until they have gone to sleep), with a group of people and musical instruments, to sing and wake them up. After your parranda or group has been let in the house, there is more singing and dancing, and then the recipients of the parranda joins the group, and they all go along to another house to deliver another parranda. This can go on all night long!
Now, you may be asking, don't Puerto Ricans have to go to work in between all these celebrations? Yes, people still have to work, but work takes a back seat during this time of the year. If you want to experience the Christmas Holidays like you have not experienced them before, head over to Puerto Rico. The weather is great, the people are happy, the beaches are inviting, and you will participate in a very festive time: Feliz Navidad in Puerto Rico.
Take a look at this YouTube video with the sounds and images of Christmas in Puerto Rico:
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
