Tag, I'm it

I've been tagged by Fringes, who actually posted over at Q's, and by Nina to participate in the latest meme. It's a food tag. I love food and I love being tagged. So I am playing: The Meme: list your top five local eating places.

There are few restaurants locally (by locally I mean in Aguas Buenas, where I live, there are more places to eat in San Juan but they mostly aim for the tourist market) All restaurants in my area are family type places, and all serve local Caribbean/Puerto Rican food. Our only chain restaurants are fast food places such as Mcd's, Wendy's and burger king. I don't go there. I can't link to any of my favorites because, well, these places are too small, and too local, and it's Puerto Rico, where technology still has a long way to go.

Puerto Rican cuisine has roots in Africa, Europe and the Americas. Most dishes still show traces of the original inhabitants of the island, the Taino and Arawak Indians. African cooks brought with them the preference for deep frying foods as well as cooking complex stews and rice dishes in iron pots, all of which are still near and dear to Puerto Rican hearts. From our Indian heritage comes our love of tropical roots and tubers. So enough with the history lesson here is my list:

1. Don Jose's: A cafeteria style eatery. Serves nothing but traditional fair with plenty of cold beer. It has a huge outdoor seating area with great views of lush mountains and palm trees. Live folkloric music and dancers on weekends. Great Pork, chicken, fish and flan.
2. El CocoTazo: this is more along the lines of a dive bar but with fabulous appetizers. They serve mostly fried stuff, such as empanadas, chicharones and alcapurrias. On the weekends they open at 6am. They serve hearty stews and soups at that hour. These are traditional breakfast choices on weekends. They also serve mondongo, which is really disgusting. It's a stew with parts of the cow that really should have been thrown out. Their claim to fame is drinks served in fresh coconuts.
3. Los Corditos: this is perhaps as close to a local chain restaurant as we get. There are 3 of them on the island. Great chicharones (chicken, pork or fish), mofongo (not to be confused with modongo, this is made from green plantains), and coconut based deserts.
4. Road side stand: the most common food stop on the island are road side stands. My favorite is one owned by a father and son team. Whole chickens cooked over charcoal. You can purchase a whole spicy chicken with enough sides (plus bread) to feed a family of 4 for just $5.
5. Guavate: open only on weekends. It's an entire road of outdoor restaurants specializing in whole roasted pigs cooked over an open fire. This is the epitome of the Puerto Rican food experience. It's all about food, friends, family, culture and heritage.

Go over and visit either of these bloggers Nicole and Velverse for a full list of everyone who has participated in this tag, it now numbers over 150. And by all means, feel free to TAG yourself and tell me and everyone else about the great local food in your part of the world.