Restaurante y Lechonera Principe

[KatieLoeb]

I am going to oven roast low and slow.  we have an open house sunday and I hope prospective home buyers will find the scent irresistable.

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I'd certainly find that more appealing than baking bread, which is what they usually tell you to do before prospective buyers stop in.

[KatieLoeb]

I just rolled in the door (and I literally mean rolled) from our first DDC dinner at Lechonera Principe. Oh. My. God. I'm so full!

Dinner tonight was a raging success. The owners could not possibly have been nicer or more accomodating. We feasted on all manner of Sancocho soup, pasteles of both plantain and yuca, roast pork, rotisseried chicken, swordfish, arroz con gandules, salad, meat pies, tostones, bacalaito fritters and flan for dessert. Everything was insanely delicious. The restaurant and their staff treated us like family. Really. A wonderful traditional Puerto Rican Christmas feast.

And I get to do it all over again tomorrow night! YIKES!

My favorite suprise for the evening was the owner's special ""Puerto Rican Moonshine" that he made just for us. A homemade sugar cane rum soaked with all sorts of dried fruits and spices and then combined with coconut milk and heaven knows what else. Kind of like a tropical eggnog. A real treat and a lovely addition to an already groaning table.

The tostones were also a revelation. I've never had them crispier or less starchy and the garlic mojo sauce that went with them was positively addicting. There will no vampires in my general vicinity for weeks, I am certain. The meat pies were also delicious and the pastry as light and flaky as any I've ever tried.

I am off to bed now, undoubtedly to seesaw on my bloated little belly when I roll over. I hope it doesn't wake me up.

[herbacidal]

I am going to oven roast low and slow.  we have an open house sunday and I hope prospective home buyers will find the scent irresistable.

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I haven't heard those, but they make sense. You're not home during the open house, right?

[philadining]

Fabulous dinner with the DDC,

everything was good off the buffet line, but the pork... oh man, the pork...

Tired? Cold? Hung-over? this is what you need....

Ever wonder where the hot sauce went? Turns out Jas is able to grab a bottle off the table at super-human speeds.

Betcha thought that was an empanada...nope, a Pastelillo. I don't care what you call them, just keep them coming!

Despite the impression this photo gives, the Tostones were not actually larger than the pastilillos, but they were every bit as tasty, especially with a little garlic mojo.

About a quarter of a bacalaito. Expert hand-modeling by Capaneus. He may be willing to hold other foodstuffs for a small fee, send him a PM, I'm sure you can work something out.

Flan. No, really, it's Flan. Three of them.

Our gracious host. More excellent hand-modeling from Capaneus.

Big thanks to Katie for putting this together, the food was really quite delicious, the folks at the restaurant were super-nice, I can't wait to go back for more of that pork!

Edited December 21, 2005 by philadining (log)

[I_call_the_duck]

Thanks for the pics, philadining. We're going tonight, and I can't wait. I hope you saved some of that pork for me!!

[philadining]

Given the opportunity, the tuesday crowd might have eaten all of wednesday's Roast Pork, but I think the restaurant held some aside for you!

There was LOTS of food, you won't go home hungry.

[JanMcBaker]

Our gracious host. More excellent hand-modeling from Capaneus.

Big thanks to Katie for putting this together, the food was really quite delicious, the folks at the restaurant were super-nice, I can't wait to go back for more of that pork!

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And that last picture-- up on the board behind the host--- I want to see what that 'sandwich cubano' is all about! Has anyone tried that?

[herbacidal]

Our gracious host. More excellent hand-modeling from Capaneus.

Big thanks to Katie for putting this together, the food was really quite delicious, the folks at the restaurant were super-nice, I can't wait to go back for more of that pork!

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And that last picture-- up on the board behind the host--- I want to see what that 'sandwich cubano' is all about! Has anyone tried that?

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Not locally I haven't. If they make a good one, I'd be mighty happy.

[KatieLoeb]

I confess I'm always drawn to the roast pork when I go there, so the thought of ordering a sandwich has never crossed my mind. Perhaps one of these days I'll get around to trying that and seeing if it can compete with Tierra Colombiana's Cubano, which is righteous IMHO.

[I_call_the_duck]

I was at day two of the DDC dinner (my first), and oh...what a meal!!

I can't really say what my favorite was, but some standouts were the chiccharon, roast pork, tostones (and garlic mojo!), pastelillo, and the soup. And the "Puerto Rican moonshine"--pure heaven.

The chiccharon, was well, chiccharon. Deep-fried pork with the crispy-chewy skin. What's not to like? The roast pork? So tender and flavorful, and the skin was so tasty too. The soup was perfect on a cold winter night. What a wonderfully flaky crust on that pastelillo. (I was also thinking of making some of my own and filling it with some of that roast pork or chicken.) I had a bad experience once with bacalao, but the bacalaito there was very good.

And I could drink an entire bottle of that moonshine.

Mr. Duck and I had a great time.

Thanks, Katie for arranging the dinner.

[aaronwcpa]

This was my 22nd DDC dinner and each has been startling, different and enjoyable. I know nothing about the cuisine served, there are no Puerto Rican restaurants in Bucks County, but as hemmed in as we were, I enjoyed the intimicay and even more the food was revealing. I tasted a bit of each item and nearly everything was delicious especially the sanchoclh soup, the pernil, polo asaco and the pasteles.

Great job Katie.

[KatieLoeb]

Wow - Wednesday evening's dinner was even more crowded than Tuesday! Hard to believe but we crammed 36 humans into that tiny little restaurant. We even had to set up a "kids table" in the corner by the restrooms to fit the last four Dangerous Diners.

Dinner on Wednesday was another success. Everything was delicious and again, the Principe family could not have been kinder or more accomodating. This time they made us chicharrones! Yum. Imagine the roast pork then deep fried. Oh yeah baby! Very tasty. Sadly, there were no photographers in the crowd for our second dinner so you'll just have to believe me.

We've been promised an even bigger and better feast for next year. They're already expecting us! Not sure how many nights we can fill the place, but I suspect they'll take us however they can manage to. What a nice bunch of folks. I think we're all family now.

My dear friend Danielle managed to dig up a recipe for Coquitos, the proper name for the delicious Puerto Rican egg nog concoction we were drinking. I will post it to eGullet tomorrow and leave a link here for any of you that wish to try making that at home.

[I_call_the_duck]

Too busy eating to take pictures. Actually, I have a habit of NOT having my camera at those Kodak moments.

And we wouldn't joke about chicharrones. That'd just be cruel.

[Andrew Fenton]

Dinner on Wednesday was another success.  Everything was delicious and again, the Principe family could not have been kinder or more accomodating.  This time they made us chicharrones!  Yum.  Imagine the roast pork then deep fried.  Oh yeah baby!  Very tasty.  Sadly, there were no photographers in the crowd for our second dinner so you'll just have to believe me.

Yow, that must have been something else! Dinner on Tuesday was wonderful, and my arteries have just finally started to loosen up a little. I think the chicharrones would have driven me over the edge.

It was lots of fun, and big thanks to Katie for putting it together. It's always great to have the chance to dine Dangerously!

Edited December 23, 2005 by Andrew Fenton (log)

[Lisa1349]

Muchos kudos to Katie for hosting yet again! The food... yum. The highlight for me were the bacala fritters. Oh wow - imagine tempura-ish batter with something great that made them orange - paprika?

I thought I'd be thrilled with the fried plantains, but I prefer the sweet, super ripe ones.

[KatieLoeb]

Muchos kudos to Katie for hosting yet again! The food... yum. The highlight for me were the bacala fritters. Oh wow - imagine tempura-ish batter with something great that made them orange - paprika?

I thought I'd be thrilled with the fried plantains, but I prefer the sweet, super ripe ones.

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I think the orange color is from annato oil. I had my leftover bacalaito for lunch today. Yum!

The plantain fritters were true tostones - crisp underripe plantains. The ones you like are the maduros, or the sweet ripe ones.