Your palate will be pleasantly amused by the range of dining choices available in Puerto Rico. In San Juan you can find more than 200 restaurants serving everything from Italian to Thai, as well as superb local eateries serving comida criolla (traditional Caribbean creole food). There's also a mind-boggling array of U.S. chain restaurants. No matter your price range or taste, San Juan is a great place to eat.

Puerto Rican cooking uses a lot of local vegetables: plantains are cooked a hundred different ways -- as tostones (fried green), amarillos (baked ripe), and chips. Rice and beans with tostones or amarillos are accompaniments to every dish. Locals cook white rice with habichuelas (red beans), achiote (annatto seeds), or saffron; brown rice with gandules (pigeon peas); and morro (black rice) with frijoles negros (black beans). Yams and other root vegetables, such as yucca and yautía, are served baked, fried, stuffed, boiled, and mashed. Sofrito -- a garlic, onion, sweet pepper, coriander, oregano, and tomato puree -- is used as a base for practically everything.

Beef, chicken, pork, and seafood are rubbed with adobo, a garlic-oregano marinade, before cooking. Arroz con pollo (chicken with rice), sancocho (beef or chicken and tuber soup), asopao (a soupy rice gumbo with chicken or seafood), and encebollado (steak smothered in onions) are all typical plates. Also look for fritters served along highways and beaches. You may find empanadillas (stuffed fried turnovers), sorullitos (cheese-stuffed corn sticks), alcapurrias (stuffed green-banana croquettes), and bacalaítos (codfish fritters). Caribbean lobster, available mainly at coastal restaurants, is sweeter and easier to eat than Maine lobster, and there's always plentiful fresh dolphin fish and red snapper. Conch is prepared in a chilled ceviche salad or stuffed. Wherever you go, it's always good to make reservations in the busy season, from mid-November through April, in restaurants where they're accepted.

Villas Caribe Puerto Rican Restaurant Selections

Sand and the Sea:
Eclectic $12 to $30.  In the open-air dining room, the south-coast views are breathtaking, and the evening breezes are cool enough that you might find the fireplace ablaze. Nightly piano performances of show tunes and Puerto Rican ballads take away any remaining chill, especially when they become sing-alongs. Grilled steak, known as churrasco, and seafood dominate the menu, which changes so often that it's posted on a blackboard. Try the Russian tostones (with sour cream and caviar). AE, D, MC, V. Closed Mon.-Thurs.  Address: Rte. 714, Km 5.2, Cercadillo Sector, Cayey, Puerto Rico.
Phone: 787/738-9086

Dragonfly:
Contemporary, $8 to $30.  With Chinese-red furnishings and a charming staff outfitted in kimonos and satin shirts, this hip little restaurant has the feel of an elegant opium den. Surely the frequent lines outside its door attest to the seductive power of chef Roberto Trevino's Latin-Asian cuisine. The platos (large appetizers) are meant to be shared and include pork-and-plantain dumplings with an orange dipping sauce; spicy, perfectly fried calamari; and Peking duck nachos with wasabi sour cream. Reservations not accepted. AE, MC, V.  Address: 364 Calle La Fortaleza, Old San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Phone: 787/977-3886

Mark’s at the Melia:
Contemporary $12 to $30.  One of the island's best restaurants, Mark's has drawn raves for creations such as plantain-crusted dorado with congri (a Cuban dish of black beans and rice), and the chocolate truffle cake draws fans from far away. Chef Mark French has won praise from the Caribbean Chefs Association, and his dishes live up to that honor. AE, MC, V. Closed Mon. and Tues.  Address: Hotel Meliá, 75 Calle Cristina, La Guancha, Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Phone: 787/284-6275

Augusto’s Cuisine:
Continental, $20 to Over $30.  Austrian-born chef Augusto Schreiner, a graduate of the Salzburg Culinary School, regularly wins awards for his classic European cuisine. His menu changes seasonally; some of the dishes commonly served are veal carpaccio, steak au poivre, and seared tuna or shrimp in a mango curry. The bright dining room is made even cheerier with floral prints and large bouquets. AE, MC, V. Closed Sun. and Mon.  Address: Hotel Excelsior, 801 Av. Ponce de León, Miramar, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Phone: 787/725-7700

Parrot Club:
Contemporary $12 to $30.  This colorful hot spot is the cornerstone of SoFo (South of Fortaleza) restaurant row. Stop by the bar for a passion fruit cocktail before moving to the adjacent dining room or the back courtyard. The menu has contemporary variations of Cuban and Puerto Rican classics. You might start with mouthwatering crab cakes or tamarind-barbecue ribs, followed by blackened tuna in a dark rum sauce. Reservations not accepted. AE, DC, MC, V.  Address: 363 Calle Fortaleza, Old San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Phone: 787/725-7370

Pikayo:
Contemporary $20 to over $30.  Chef Wilo Benet artfully fuses classic French, Caribbean Creole, and California nouvelle nuances at this delightful museum restaurant. A changing selection of paintings wraps around the main dining room, while a plasma TV broadcasts the kitchen action above the silver-and-black bar. The regularly changing menu might include tostones stuffed with oven-dried tomatoes to start, followed by a hearty land-crab stew or mofongo topped with saffron shrimp. Veal and prosciutto with sweet pea couscous and a decadent three cheese soufflé topped with guava sauce might also be on the menu. Expect to see a well-dressed crowd of local bigwigs here. AE, D, MC, V. Closed Mon. Address: Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, 300 Av. José de Diego, Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Phone: 787/721-6194