Fodor's Expert Review Laurel Kitchen | Art Bar
Editor's Note: This location is no longer in operation.
After the popular Chayote closed, its chef-owner, Mario Pagán, moved shop to these elegant new digs in the Museo de Arte. As the host of cooking shows on Latin American television and a contestant on Food Network's The Next Iron Chef, Pagán is quite the showman; here he joyfully plays with familiar Puerto Rican ingredients and flavors using haute-French techniques. His signature Chilean sea bass is served with an impossibly smooth yuca puree, over a port wine and foie gras reduction. Arugula salad with pancetta, papaya, goat cheese, and passion-fruit vinaigrette perfectly balances sour, salty, and sweet flavors. And crispy codfish buñuelos with cilantro-lime aioli recall the favorite Puerto Rican snack, bacalaítos.