EL SABOR QUE NOS UNE

EL NUEVO DÍA  Puerto Rico  MIÉRCOLES,
19 DE OCTUBRE DE 2005

"Yo quería tener un restaurante que fuera más allá

"Las recetas de Old San Juan Restaurant son mías, y de Obdulio Martinez.Durante ocho aZos tuve en mi mente el menú que algún día iba a hacer", cuenta MacManus en la cocina, mientras Martínez machaca plátanos en un enorme pilón de madera tallado por un artesano de Ponce."Todo aquí lo hacemos fresco, o ‘from scratch’,como se dice en inglés", continúa el propietario,quien de niZo llevaba los pedidos de la cantina de su madre en Manhattan, al mostrar una bandeja de sorullos rellenos de queso.

"Hacemos lo que llamamos morcirullos, que son

sorullos rellenos de morcilla", cita como ejemplo.

Pero donde MacManus se da gusto es con los

clientela que lo visita.

Porque Old San Juan Restaurant, decorado en

gran parte como una casona del Viejo San Juan y con cuadros de familia, tiene una esquinita, "La placitadel mercado", donde se venden productos típicos: camisetas con la bandera de la isla, Café Yaucono, dulces del país, música y más.

1200 SW 57th Avenue,

Miami.

Tel.: 305-263-9911

In Miami, a city of transplanted traditions, the copy is sometimes better than the original. In the new Old San Juan Restaurant, owner Tom MacManus Acosta has replicated with exquisite precision the Spanish and indigenous flavors and textures of the best of Puerto Rican cuisine.

This is no exaggeration: The fare is better than we've had on the island.

The 11/2-month old restaurant is on the grounds of the former Puerto Rican restaurant La Isla del Encanto. MacManus bought the humble cafeteria-style locale and remodeled it with tropical flair, tasteful furniture and colorful art.

The ready-to-please staff are uniformed in guayaberas with a coconut palm print. Primitive Caribbean paintings adorn the banana yellow and plantain green walls. An original work by MacManus' brother, Ernest, a painting of their mother in an old-fashioned kitchen, was on exhibit in New York City's El Museo del Barrio. Another work, a mammoth-sized rendition of El Yunque, the island's lush rain forest, will soon take up the only empty wall.

Another winning touch: The varied menu is fully bilingual and has easy to understand descriptions of every dish.

We stumbled upon Old San Juan on a late Sunday afternoon and asked a Puerto Rican friend to join us. The restaurant bustled with families taking advantage of the all-you-can-eat Sunday buffet ($22 a person), the best deal, although you can order ? la carte from the menu. A word of caution: It's easy to run up a large bill if you get carried away sampling the pricey appetizers, drinks and desserts.

For starters, there's coquito al San Juan ($5), the year-round Puerto Rican eggnog; the popular root drink mav? frio ($2.50), which is fermented in the sun; and India, a grape soda ($1.50) with a whopping 182 calories.

We lost control right away on the appetizers - alcapurrias ($4.75), a serving of two plantain and tanier root fritters filled with ground beef; ara?itas ($4), a web of crunchy ``spider fries''; and tasty guineos en escabeche, pickled green bananas ($4.50). The portions were too small - and too delicious - for four to share, so we kept the extra orders coming.

Nevertheless, we had plenty of appetite left for entrees. We created our own plate by combining piononos ($6, listed as an appetizer), cone-shaped rolled sweet plantains filled with meat and topped with fried egg whites, and a side of fluffy arroz con gandules ($4.50, rice with pigeon peas).

The funky mofongo con carne frita ($11.95) also was a hit. There's no real translation for mofongo, but it's a tasty ball of mashed plantains flavored with pork rinds and garlic, in this case served with fried meat. But what really hit the meal out of the ballpark was the rich asopao de pollo ($9.95), a soupy rice stew made with a flavorful breast of chicken and served with fried green plantains. The asopaos also are made with lobster, shrimp, a combination of both, or gandules with sweet ham.

We also sampled pasteles ($12.95), which were not as flavorful as the other dishes. Not to be confused with the sweet pastries, this Puerto Rican version of tamales is made not from cornmeal but with plantains and malanga, stuffed with chicken or pork, then boiled and served wrapped in a green plantain leaf.

As if we hadn't sinned enough for one meal, we were tempted with an outstanding lineup of desserts, made daily by MacManus.

The waitress boasted that the bien me sabe ($4.50), a ``Cocorican cream dream,'' was better than the Nicaraguan tres leches - certainly an exaggeration, we thought. Not quite. This sweet dream had plenty of competition from other Puerto Rican favorites, like the mushy arroz con dulce de coco ($4.50), coconut rice pudding; the guayaba cheesecake ($6, also available mango-flavored); and the pud?n de pan y guayaba ($4.50), a guava bread pudding brought to our table by MacManus, who had been observing our joyful binge and didn't let us leave without a taste on the house.

We ended with a pocillo, what Puerto Ricans call the demitasse of thick Cuban coffee. Our only regret was that some favorites on the menu - sorullitos (finger-shaped corn and cheese fritters), bacalaitos (golden fried batter of cod fish flavored with coriander), avocado salad and the creamy tembleque dessert - were not available when we dined. Like they say on the island, !Ay, bendito! We'll just have to come back.