Atwater Village: Finding Puerto Rican Food at Old San Juan

On the border between Atwater Village and Glassell Park is the Puerto Rican restaurant Old San Juan. I was pretty excited to try it based on some pictures I had seen on Instagram.

The cocktails list had a mix of rum drink including a mojito. I haven’t had a mojito in… well, I haven’t had one in a long time. This one was a bit sweet but it wasn’t that bad. My companions stuck to wine or sangria.

We wanted to try quite a few appetizers so we decided to get the appetizer combo. Except it didn’t seem like quite enough for the four of us so we got two combos. We probably should have gotten one. Nothing was that memorable other than the bacalaito, the fried fish croquette. Actually, all the croquettes including the ham were good.

My favorite of the dipping sauce was the green one that reminded me of the potent garlic sauces of other Latin restaurants. I ate this with almost everything.

I was pretty excited to try the octopus and avocado salad. Although beautiful, the octopus was a bit bland. A spike of the green garlic sauce did wonders.

I’m not that familiar with Puerto Rican food but I knew I had to try the mofongo. We got the one with pork and chicharrone stuffed inside. The mashed green plantains seemed a bit dry. This dish already came with green garlic sauce but another jolt was needed.

Our favorite dish of the night turned out to be the mahi mahi which came on a bed of vegetable root puree and sauteed spinach. The coconut sofrito sauce was excellent and I don’t even like coconut that much. I’m glad our server steered us in this direction.

Overall, I was hoping for more bold island flavors. A friend told me Puerto Rican food is similar to Cuban and I love Cuban food (probably why I love that garlic sauce so much). Sadly, this initial experience didn’t leave me wanting to further explore the restaurant. But I haven’t given up on trying Puetro Rican food. Maybe I need to try Mofongo’s in North Hollywood.

Old San Juan

2830 Fletcher Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90039  —  (323) 284-8323

 

© The Minty  2013