Wednesday, July 15, 2009

ADRIAN TROPICAL-Dominican food with little flair (Santo Domingo,Dominican Rep)

We arrived here this afternoon and decided to hit the city's most famous local eatery ADRIAN TROPICAL located at Avenida George Washington (or the Malecon), the unseemly promenade along the sea where most of the gigantic hotels are located, Samuel loved spotting the crabs along the small beach, the fish in the tank in the lobby and then watching the Amazon Parrot in the cage outside. The restaurant is on three levels overlooking the sea with indoor (air conditioned) and outdoor (muggy, hot) seating. We chose the top level outside near the parrot.

It was a tough ordeal for us as many folks don't speak a word of English here, and we tried to get Samuel to assist. To start we got him a lemonade and we tried to order a bottle of wine. The server said there was no wine list, just 6 wines, but we had no clue what the price was. We finally managed to We all agreed (even Sam) that these were a treat.

Will and I had always adored MOFONGO, the national dish of Puerto Rico, and it is a mainstay of the local cuisine here as well, but very different. While in PR, the mofongo comes with the plantains plastered against the wooden "bowl" or crock with meat or fish stew within, here there is only the plantain. It does have a wonderful CHICHARON crunch from the pork cracklings in the mix and can be ordered plain or with meat. The meat comes in a small bowl which you can add to the mix....I think I spotted several unknown organs in the bowl! I thought it was tasty, but must agree with Will, it is not a touch on the mofongo we know from Puerto Rico.

We paid, headed back to our hotel in the historical center (Zona Colonial) where we hope we can find better dining tomorrow.