mstevens
Toadfish. Splendid is implied but not guaranteed.
We had lunch today at la Perlita on Calle 10 Nte between 65 bis and 70. They have an entire menu of lionfish dishes. (The lionfish menu is separate, and they didn't give it to us until we asked, so be aware of that if you're after pez leon).
Lionfish ceviche was superb. I'm not a ceviche eater normally, but my wife and kid are. They'd each ordered a ceviche and I had a taste, then stole a significant amount of theirs. Lionfish cevichificates wonderfully, and la Perlita adds diced mango to the mix. The fish is slightly sweet and in ceviche the texture is quite nice, neither mushy nor rubbery. This was literally the only ceviche I've ever had more than a small, polite taste of before turning to something I actually like.
I ordered lionfish Xcalakoco - filets coated in coconut and fried. I forgot to count how many filets made a plate, but it was *lots* since most of them are so tiny. Prepared this way, the filets have a texture quite similar to grouper. My parents both said that is what they would order next time they are there. I certainly plan to have everything on the lionfish menu as well as any other way they'll serve it to me.
Admittedly, a primary reason for trying the lionfish dishes was to help create a market for their spiky little corpses. That reason is now moot. Lionfish is impressively delicious. I'd probably eat it, if a bit guiltily, if it were an endagered species. Given the problems with eating grouper and snapper, which I also love, I can cheerfully devour as much lionfish as I can find knowing that this is environmentally sound, has not (yet) been reported to have caused any cases of ciguatera toxicity, and is even tastier.
This was our first time at la Perlita. My mom had some excellent grouper, dad had a chile relleno con mariscos, and both were very nice. Decor was fairly nice. It's in a tall palapa vaguely reminiscent of the old la Choza, but much brighter inside. My whole family agreed we'd drop something else off of our usual restaurant rotation in order to eat there again. The vote was unanimous that this is now our overall top seafood place.
There are probably other restaurants serving lionfish on the island, but these guys seem to take it as a mission to serve as many of these delicious creatures as possible. I heartily recommend them.
Lionfish ceviche was superb. I'm not a ceviche eater normally, but my wife and kid are. They'd each ordered a ceviche and I had a taste, then stole a significant amount of theirs. Lionfish cevichificates wonderfully, and la Perlita adds diced mango to the mix. The fish is slightly sweet and in ceviche the texture is quite nice, neither mushy nor rubbery. This was literally the only ceviche I've ever had more than a small, polite taste of before turning to something I actually like.
I ordered lionfish Xcalakoco - filets coated in coconut and fried. I forgot to count how many filets made a plate, but it was *lots* since most of them are so tiny. Prepared this way, the filets have a texture quite similar to grouper. My parents both said that is what they would order next time they are there. I certainly plan to have everything on the lionfish menu as well as any other way they'll serve it to me.
Admittedly, a primary reason for trying the lionfish dishes was to help create a market for their spiky little corpses. That reason is now moot. Lionfish is impressively delicious. I'd probably eat it, if a bit guiltily, if it were an endagered species. Given the problems with eating grouper and snapper, which I also love, I can cheerfully devour as much lionfish as I can find knowing that this is environmentally sound, has not (yet) been reported to have caused any cases of ciguatera toxicity, and is even tastier.
This was our first time at la Perlita. My mom had some excellent grouper, dad had a chile relleno con mariscos, and both were very nice. Decor was fairly nice. It's in a tall palapa vaguely reminiscent of the old la Choza, but much brighter inside. My whole family agreed we'd drop something else off of our usual restaurant rotation in order to eat there again. The vote was unanimous that this is now our overall top seafood place.
There are probably other restaurants serving lionfish on the island, but these guys seem to take it as a mission to serve as many of these delicious creatures as possible. I heartily recommend them.
