Best Casual Restaurants in San Juan: Mofongo, Craft Beer and Puerto Rican Classics

San Juan's most honest food is not in its fine dining rooms. It is at the chinchorros — the casual bars and informal restaurants where locals actually eat — in the food trucks parked on residential streets, and in the restaurants that have been serving the same dishes for decades without any particular interest in being discovered. This post is about those places.

La Vergüenza

First, there's La Vergüenza, a typical chincharro. A chincharro is a Puerto Rican restaurant where locals gather for food and drinks. As such, it was no surprise that many locals recommended it to me, telling me that not only would I enjoy the food, I would also get a taste of Puerto Rican culture.

Medalla

In order to fully immerse myself in the cultural experience at La Vergüenza, I was told to start with a Medalla beer, brewed on the island by Compania Cervecera de Puerto Rico. Medalla means "medal," a name that was inspired when the beer was created during the Pan American games held in Puerto Rico. The pale lager was crisp and refreshing.

Grilled Churrasco Steak

With my Medalla in hand, I ordered the skirt steak with chimichurri sauce, a sauce made of fresh herbs, garlic, olive oil and a little vinegar. Though it originated in Argentina, it is popular far beyond its borders. As part of this steak dish, La Vergüenza provides sweet plantains, rice, a salad and habichuelas guisadas, or stewed beans flavored with ham and sofrito.

Paulina Escanes

For a taste of Mexico in Puerto Rico, I recommend Paulina Escanes. The chef and owner of the eponymous restaurant chooses dishes that reflect her cravings and memories of her Mexican homeland.

Carnitas Tacos

A friend and I started our meal at Paulina Escanes with the carnitas tacos. Having always experienced carnitas as a pork dish, I was surprised and curious about these carnitas made with beef. The beef was seasoned and shredded and placed on top of warm tortillas, melted cheese and topped with pico de gallo.

Torta de Elote Escanes

The signature dish at Paulina Escanes is the torta de elote Escanes, a souffle-style corncake filled with cheese and charred poblano peppers.

The sweet and slightly spicy corncake is topped with sour cream and a few cherry tomatoes and served alongside salad. This dish is a must try. You can enjoy it on its own or add your choice of meat or fried eggs.

Rincon Ibérico

Located in the historic, Cuartel de Ballajá in Old San Juan, Rincon Ibérico specializes in Spanish cuisine. Ironically, I was told to stop in for a non-Spanish item.

Pollo Mofongo

Rincon Ibérico was suggested to me because they served a Puerto Rican speciality called mofongo. Mofongo is a comfort food made of fried green plantains.

Pilón

The dish begins with a pilón — a wooden mortar and pestle that is as fundamental to Puerto Rican cooking as the molcajete is to Mexican. Fried green plantains, garlic, and chicharrón are added and mashed together until they reach a dense, doughy consistency — resistant but yielding, with the plantain's starchy richness carrying the garlic's sharpness and the chicharrón's fat throughout.

The result is neither bread nor dumpling nor porridge but something distinctly its own, and it has been Puerto Rico's since the West African pilón tradition merged with Spanish plantations and indigenous ingredients on this island centuries ago.

La Taberna Lupulo

I also visited La Taberna Lúpulo, another restaurant located in Old San Juan. It's hard to resist stepping into this tavern with its lively atmosphere, welcoming bar, high ceilings and heavy, open, wooden doors.

Beermosa

Step inside and you will discover that this place is all about the beer. In fact, some would say that this is San Juan's premier craft beer bar. At La Taberna Lúpulo you'll find up to 50 beers on tap and more than 100 bottled beers.

A specialty cocktail of the house is the beermosa. The beermosa is made with ice cold, Mambo beer mixed with passion fruit and rum. The refreshing beverage has a hint of both sweet and sour.

Cubano

To soak up all the beer they serve, La Taberna Lúpulo also serves food. One of their most popular items is the Cubano sandwich, birthed in Florida, but very popular in Puerto Rico and around the globe. (You can read more about its origins here.)

La Taberna Lúpulo's Cubano sandwich was made with mojo pork shoulder, thinly sliced ham, dill pickles, Swiss cheese, house made IPA mustard and was served on pan de agua bread from local bakery, Panificadora La Jerezana.

Deaverdura

Another yummy, Old San Juan spot is family-run Deaverdura, which specializes in Puerto Rican cuisine. This casual restaurant posts their menu on a blackboard just outside the front door, tempting passersby with local specialities.

Pernil

The server suggested the pernil, or roasted pork shoulder, to me. This pork dish, slow roasted with garlic, spices and citrus juices, is at the top of the blackboard menu for a reason. It is a house and Puerto Rican speciality. The succulent pork, with some crispy edges, is served with rice and beans at Deaverdura, and it is rich.

Acerola

To cut some of that richness, the server sent out some acerola, a tart and somewhat sweet, Barbados cherry juice. It was a perfect accompaniment.

Tacos y Tequila

Next, we have Tacos y Tequila, a Mexican restaurant located in the Condado neighborhood of San Juan.

Fish Taco

Of the restaurants in this post, it is the least casual, but is still laid back with a beachy vibe. At Tacos y Tequila, I was told to order (not surprisingly) the tacos. I chose two. The first was a fish taco, made with battered and fried fish, guacamole and a carrot, cabbage and red onion slaw. It was just okay - nothing I would return for.

Shrimp Taco

Second was the shrimp taco, which was much better. The shrimp, marinated in garlic, butter and some spices, was cooked perfectly. The lettuce was a subtle addition to the taco that didn't detract from the delicate flavor of the shrimp.

Timut Chocolate Tarte

I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but on this occasion, I ordered a dessert that intrigued me. It was the timut chocolate tarte, and what piqued my interest was the tamarind caramel and sour cream sorbet that it was served with.

Thankfully, the dessert was not only interesting, but appetizing as well. That said, the sour cream sorbet component, though tasty, made no sense since sorbet is definitionally dairy free and sour cream is made with milk (scratches head).

The tacos were fine. Not a destination, not a discovery — competently made food in a beautiful location that was doing most of the work. The water view is genuine and worth a drink. For the food itself, the other addresses in this post will serve you better.

Señor Paleta

The final establishment on my list is not a restaurant, but a very popular dessert shop in San Juan. Señor Paleta is a popsicle parlor, where quality, fresh, local ingredients are blended to make gelatos and sorbets, affixed to a stick.

Guanábana

Yes, you can find common flavors like chocolate and vanilla at Señor Paleta, but I suggest venturing into the tropical flavors that are celebrated in Puerto Rico. In that spirit, I chose the guanábana, or soursop popsicle.

Soursop is a heart shaped fruit with a thick, prickly skin and white, fleshy pulp. The flavor is both sweet and tart and in frozen form, it was both a fun treat and a brief, cooling reprieve from the Puerto Rican heat.

San Juan's casual dining scene is where the island feeds itself most honestly — without tasting menus, without tablecloths, without any particular interest in impressing anyone. The churrasco at La Vergüenza, the mofongo at Rincón Ibérico, the pernil at Deaverdura, and the soursop popsicle from Señor Paleta at the end of a long day of walking: this is what the island tastes like when it is simply being itself. The bars that conclude this series are next, and they are, it turns out, as interesting as everything else San Juan does.

Practical notes:

• La Vergüenza: Outdoor seating, lively atmosphere, best for lunch or early dinner. Cash-friendly.

• Deaverdura: Check the blackboard menu outside before entering — items sell out. Small space, arrive early for dinner.

• Señor Paleta: Multiple San Juan locations. Perfect afternoon snack between Old San Juan sightseeing.

• La Taberna Lúpulo: Great happy hour. 50+ beers on tap. Old San Juan.