SoFo Culinary Fest 2008

For those of you heading down to the SoFo Culinary Festival 2008, we've got a new interactive map to help you plan your culinary route before you get there.

We've started working with CODEVISA, and should be making some pretty exciting announcements with them soon. As a start, we've created this new interactive map. It contains the relative location of all of the restaurants participating in the festival.

What's so special at the SoFo Culinary Fest 2008?

Well, Sofo is a super 'fest' held since 2004 in summer and in late November. It is estimated that nearly 120 thousand people attend each edition of the culinary festival, says Marisol Dieppa, director of CODEVISA, a non-profit organization that promotes economic development in Old San Juan where they operate nearly 80 restaurants, from small cafes to 'fine dining'.

What's to eat?

Well, to start there will be five thousand fresh oysters which have been brought in from Japan, as well as hundreds of crocodile chicharrones. In addition there will be German sausages, zarzuelas, ceviches, risotto, roasted Turks, paellas, lo mein, arañitas, hummus, and snails.

And that's just a sample, which is exactly what most of the chefs will be preparing. Almost all of the participating restaurants will be giving away mini portions of their star dishes and new cocktails on the street in front of their premises.

And to drink?

You'll be able to choose from a Blue Cheese Martini (Tantra), Sake Martini (J Taste), Mojito enamorao (Raíces), Peach Mojito (The Parrot Club), Pineapple Mojito (Fratelli)... Blue Cheese Martini (Tantra), Sake Martini (J Taste), Mojito enamorao (Estate), Peach Mojito (The Parrot Club), or a Pineapple Mojito (Fratelli). The 'mojito' is definitely the new 'in' cocktail, and SoFo will be the place where bartenders will be launching new drinks created just for SoFo.

What else?

Well you should know that the Teatro Tapia will serve as you central source for information when you arrive. If you have any questions, that's where to head. There will be nine stages spread out along the "Culinary Route". Two will be in Plaza Colon, three along Forteleza street, three along Recinto Sur, and one in Plaza Arturo Somohano. Finally, parking will be available in Estacionamiento Covadonga, Estacionamiento de la Puntilla, Estacionamiento Doña Fela, and Estacionamiento Paseo Portuario.

Top Ten Tips For Better Steaks

Man, is there anything better than putting that first piece of perfectly barbecued steak into your mouth? Well, unless your a vegetarian, and it would probably make you convulse and puke, and well, that really doesn't sound very enjoyable. If that's you, then it's probably best moving on to the next blog post. Although, I think I have heard of grilling tofu, but can't say that I've ever tried it. At least not willingly.

Anyway, who hasn't had the experience of putting expensive cuts of beef on the grill in anticipation of tender, juicy guest-pleasing steaks and having them emerge as dried-out, barely chewable disasters? Well, as with everything, there's a name for the fear of repeating this experience. It's called grilling anxiety, or G.A. to those in the business.

Well, thanks to Jonathan Torres, executive chef at the Morton’s, The Steakhouse in San Juan (Caribe Hilton Hotel) , your olde pal Don Dees has the top ten tips to avoid grilling anxiety. And let me tell you Morton's knows steak. Last year alone, the chefs at the company’s 69 restaurants broiled more than 2,400,000 steaks.

Top Ten Essential Tips for Perfect Steaks

1. Size Does Matter! Steaks at least 1” to 1 1/2” thick are best for grilling. The thicker cuts can sear on the outside and still not be overdone inside. While a thinner cut, anything under an inch, is likely to dry out on the grill.


2. Bring ‘em in from out of the cold. Steaks should be at room temperature before grilling.


3. Check the oil. Before you begin, lightly oil the grilling rack. It keeps the meat from sticking and tearing – and losing its natural juices.


4. It’s got to be hot! Pre-heat the grill to 600-800 degrees and keep it at that temperature for 30 to 45 minutes before putting the steaks on. It’s during the first few minutes of grilling that the high temperature sears the meat, forming the coating that seals in those tasty juices.


5. Use a seasoned approach: Add a bit of seasoning before placing the steak on the grill. Some salt and pepper can do wonders.


6. Don't overcook! Cooking steaks on the grill too long will cause moisture to evaporate, increasing the likelihood that the meat will be tougher and less juicy.


7. Stick a fork in it? Never!! Always use tongs or a spatula to turn over a steak during grilling. And resist the temptation to use a fork to test the steak for doneness as it’s being grilled. A fork will pierce the meat and allow the juices to seep out.


8. One good turn…is enough! After you put your steak on the grill, don’t turn it over before at least five minutes of grilling have elapsed on one side. Turning too soon can prevent searing from taking place. The steak should be seared on one side, then turned, seared on the other side and allowed to cook to the preferred doneness.


9. Won’t let go? If the steak sticks to the surface when you’re trying to turn it over, stop trying. It’s a sure sign that it needs more searing on that side. Give it more time.


10. Keep your lid on! By keeping the lid closed during grilling, you increase the broiling temperature, while decreasing the cooking time.

There you have it! Although, I have a small confession to make, I love grilling. But I'm afraid that I'm guilty of not following a few of those tips. So I'm looking forward to making a few changes and tasting the results. Wow, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Let me know what your secrets to grilling are and I'll compile a list and share them with everyone else.

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor Today: Another Pint Please...

Sal! pa' SoFo

Starting Thursday, June 5th CODEVISA and Old San Juan will celebrate its 11th Old San Juan Culinary Fest. This year, they will be presenting the largest gastronomic festival in Puerto Rico. With the participation of 40 restaurants, the festival will include not only the south part of Calle Forteleza but also a zone of 6 streets where the 40 restaurants are located.

In addition, the festival will offer eight different stages where there will be a variety of musical presentations. No matter whether you prefer Cuban, Brazilan, Puerto Rican, or just plain Jazz, there will always be some music to your liking somewhere. The highlight of the musical performers will be a presentation by the Puerto Rico Philharmonic Orchestra. They will perform at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday June 6th in Plaza Colón.

During the festival, the "código de orden público" or Public Order Code will be lifted. That means that you'll be able to carry open containers of alcohol, while walking down the streets of Old San Juan. "Woo Whoo," he says in his best Homer Simpson impersonation.

A partial schedule for some of the key activities for Sal! pa' SoFo follows:

Thursday, June 5th:

• 6:00 p.m. - Ribbon Cutting Ceremony with Honorable Jorge Santini, Mayor of San Juan
  Fortaleza Esq. O'Donnell
• 7:30 p.m. - Flair Show, Sr. Manuel Picón, National Bartending Champion
  Plaza Arturo Somohano

Saturday, June 7th:

• 6:00 p.m. - Puerto Rico Philharmonic Orchestra
  Plaza Colón

Sunday, June 8th:

• 4:00 p.m. - Waiter Races (Carrera de los Mozos)
  Plazas Colón and Arturo Somohano
• 6:00 p.m. - Benny's Balloon
  Demonstration of the confection of balloon figures
  
• 6:30 p.m. - Mini Chef
  Demonstration of plates prepared by children
  From Chef Rita Rosado de Sweet Cow and Rita's Cuisine
  

Repeat Flickr Creative Commons Contributor Today: Oquendo

Krispy Kreme Zombie Fever Grips Puerto Rico

Mi Gente, you are not going to believe what I'm going to share with you now. Let's see, the grand opening of the Krispy Kreme was on May 6th, We are now on May 22nd, that makes two weeks and counting. You'd think that the original excitement from that first day would have subsided by now. Well you'd be wrong, be prepared to wait a n insanely long time for doughnuts, wrong.

We all remember the insane donut zombie craziness that took place on the very first day, right. Well, I want you to all know that the demand for a taste of Krispy Kreme Original Glazed Doughnuts is still very high. How high? Well at any given time you're likely to find a line of cars waiting to get into the drive through ranging from 20 to maybe 50 cars. We happened to drive by WalMart last night around 8:00 p.m., and the line for the Krispy Kreme drive through reached all the way around the block and out onto Rafael Cordero, I'd say easily 50 cars full of donut zombies.

Well, I've been jonesing for a few more of those sweet golden treats (OMG maybe I'm going zombie...), so I composed a plan. I'd go to the store very early in the morning, when they first open and I'd slip in and slip out. No fuss, mo muss. Well you know what they say about well laid plans. One of my daughters was curious to see what was so special about Krispy Kreme, so she asked to go. I woke her up early and we set out at 5:40 a.m., for a 6:00 a.m. opening. When we walked up to the front door, there were already 20 zombies in line. AT 6:00 IN THE FREAKING MORNING! There was also about 25 cars already queued up for the drive as well.

But I think I got it figured out now. If you want to get your hands on some of the most sought after doughnuts ever in Puerto Rico, get there around 6:30. By then the initial line has already been served and the drive through was already down to a more reasonable 5 or 6. However, if you wait much after that, well, take a book to read or some good zombie friends to chat with, because you'll be there for a while.

More Dondequiera SEO Power

Real quick I noticed when writing this that a Google search for "Krispy Kreme Puerto Rico" places Dondequiera in second position. Only their main corporate site out ranks us. And what of the local Krispy Kreme site? Well because it is Adobe Flash, it is invisible to the spiders and robots, so it is therefore invisible to search engines. To be fair though, this time our results in Yahoo and Microsoft are not nearly as good.

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor Today: darkpatator

Grand Opening = Grand Success

Well I'm about down from the sugar high I got this morning after over-indulging on Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Yes, I was one of the crazy people who lined up this morning to be one of the first people to taste their delicious sweetness here in Puerto Rico. Before I go on, and before I share what the scene was like I just have one thing to say. Somebody owes me some doughnuts.

Believe it or not. The line to buy doughnuts started forming Monday afternoon around 1:00 p.m. and continued growing through the night. So even though the Krispy Kreme management extended the free doughnuts for a year give-away to the first 100 customers instead of the first 50. I was still way too late to get one of the precious free-doughnut cards. Ahh my precious.

I pulled out of the house a little later than I hoped for around 4:49, and was waiting in line by 5:00 a.m. Then after waiting for three hours and as I was nearing the front door they ran out of t-shirts too. So, I got bumkiss. Ahh, that's the breaks when you live in the big city, right. They did give everyone who came in the door a free doughnut, so I guess that's something.

All in all I'd have to say that it was a very successful grand opening for Krispy Kreme, and I bet the results exceeded their expectations. The whole thing went down, I'd say, without any problems. The crowd was well controlled and everything was very organized. They had a portable large screen television, which was showing Alvin and the Chipmunks as I showed up, and then was used to broadcast the event to everyone throughout the rest of the morning. They also had Reggaeton 94.7 broadcast live from the event. The Despelote crew, Rocky The Kid, Tony Banana and Billy Fourquet entertained the crowd throughout the morning and was even able to successful give-away $1,000 to a lucky member of the crowd. Plenealo was also in the house and kept the crowd bumping.

I'd say, in total about 1,000 people showed up for the grand opening. From the looks the majority were around 20, but there were some older folks, and some families with young babies. With each customer buying about 2 dozen donuts each, I'd say they sold a shitload of doughnuts. It was a really good time, despite having to be standing for a few hours. The weather was comfortable, and the crowd seemed to be in a really good mood. I think only here in Puerto Rico has the Krispy Kreme organization seen anything like what they witnessed this morning. I mean where else in the world would you get so many people lined up at 5:00 in morning, ready to spend their money, moving and shaking to loud music, and generally having a blast?

I hope that Rosana Vázquez Medina doesn't mind, but I snagged the photo above from the "LLega Krispy Kreme a Puerto Rico" Facebook group. And speaking of Facebook, apparently it continues to grow in strength and popularity here in Puerto Rico. That people who were at the event have already posted photographs from the event shows how, that the behavior that Facebook receives is drastically different, and more like the rest of the world, than the any other Web 2.0 application used by Puerto Ricans.

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor Today: aerodesign.pl

In store appearance for Wilo Benet

Tomorrow night, Sept 7th, at 7:00 p.m. Wilo Benet will make an in-store appearance at Borders in Plaza Escorial. Wilo Benet is the renowned local chef of Pikayo restaurant, and partner in the new restaurant Payá. More on those in a second....Benet is promoting his new cookbook Puerto Rico True Flavors

True Flavors is the accumulation of Wilo Benet's mastery of Puerto Rican cooking, his expertise in preparation, creativity, and finely-honed skills. Merging the tastes he grew up with, from his mother's "from-scratch" cooking, his grandmother's well-loved recipes, lunchtimes at public school, street vendors' fritters and roasted chickens, and all the other everyday-food influences of Puerto Rico, together with his exceptional culinary talents, he brings those historic true flavors of the Island into the 21st century.

In the book you'll learn how to make authentic Basics (adobo, escabache, mojito); Fritters (alcapurrias/stuffed yautía, bacalaítos/salt cod fritters); Soups such as sancocho/root vegetable & beef; Meats like carne mechada/stuffed pot roast; Fish (camarones al ajillo/shrimp in garlic sauce); Plantains (amarillos/sweet plantains, arañitas /plantain spiders); and Desserts (flan/custard pudding, dulce de lechosa/candied papaya), to name just a few of each. An example of one of the fritters recipes taken from his website is for:

Bacalaítos (Salt Cod Fritters)
Makes 1 dozen

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces salt cod fillet, soaked overnight and drained
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon adobo
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Procedure:

1. Clean the salt cod: Remove any small bones and any tough skin from the salt cod, and coarsely shred the fillet into a bowl.
2. Add the flour, baking powder, adobo and cilantro to the bowl, and pour in 3 cups of water. Mix well until a chunky, unified batter that resembles pancake batter forms.
3. In a large frying pan, heat about 1 inch of vegetable oil to 350º F. Using a 2-ounce ladle and with a forward motion, pour the batter, in batches, into the hot oil, to form an elongated, flat fritter. Fry for about 10 minutes, turning occasionally with tongs, until crisp and golden brown. If the fritters happen to stick to the bottom of the pan while frying, use a thin spatula to detach them. Oil bubbling through the fritter during frying is a good indication of a perfectly fried bacalaíto.
4. Remove the bacalaítos from the oil, and set aside to drain on paper towels.
   

Because these fritters are extremely oily, I recommend standing them in a colander or placing them over a cooling rack to drain before serving. Serve immediately.

Probably the epitome of Puerto Rico's fritter, bacalaítos are still cooked in their original rustic form along the island's coast.

As is evidenced by his run of Golden Fork awards given during the annual El Nueva Dia "Certamen de Buen Comer", Benet's original restaurant Pikayo is a classic. A long time favorite of Ms. Dees and I, Pikayo has to be one of the best places for fine dining in Puerto Rico. His newest endeavor, Payá, features a good ol'e home town menu of criollo favorites in a more casual atmosphere.

Benet will also be appearing next Friday, Sept 14th, at the Borders in Mayaguez Mall. For more information please call (787) 751-1124.

Faccio Pizza expands into Isla Verde

The local chain of pizzerias, Faccio Pizza, has opened their seventh store on the island. With their newest store, the chain marks their first entrance into a tourist zone. The new store, which will be on the first floor of the Howard Johnson in Isla Verde, will replace a bar. With some 1,950 square feet, the new restaurant will accommodate 100 people.

The first Faccio Pizza was opened in Cupey, were it still remains in operation. Their continued expansion is the result of franchises, but while a franchise all of the owners of the seven pizzerias are all family members. Hmm, all of the owners of an Italian pizza restaurant are all part of a "family", watch out Tony Soprano!

The hours of operation for the new restaurant are 11:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and until 12:00 midnight on Thursday through Saturday.

BTW, any fans of Howard Johnson's famous ice cream parlors should note with a sense of sadness that the parlor/restaurant that was previously open in the same location as Faccio Pizza is closed. During a recent visit to the hotel to enjoy some ice cream with Familia Don Dees, we found the parlor dark and the doors locked.

Flickr Creative Commons Contributor Today: avlxyz

Johnny Rockets rewards good students - ¡Buenas Calificaciones!

The hamburger, shakes, and dancing chain of restaurants Johnny Rockets has announced a new offer aimed at rewarding students with good grades. The program "¡Buenas Calificaciones!" offers children under 11 an opportunity to receive a free plate from their children's menu for straight A's and a free sundae for all A's and B's or all B's. The offer is available until June 30th.

Children must come accompanied by an adult and present their report cards in order to receive the offer. Johnny Rockets currently has two locations in Plaza del Sol and Montehiedra Town Center. In addition they will be opening a new location in Plaza Cayey.