La Casita Blanca - Review - Santurce - San Juan - The Infatuation

"The beauty of this Santurce casita, from the Casita Miramar team, is that you can show up slightly disheveled after a long day at the beach and no one will bat an eye. This place feels like you’re at grandma’s house thanks to the CRT TVs, green leather couches, and flowery polyvinyl tablecloths that pack this place. This undeniable charm is the reason families and groups of twenty-somethings wait in line for plates of hearty carne guisada, mamposteao, or fricasé de pollo. (Also, because it’s rumored to be one of Bad Bunny’s favorite lunch spots). These heavily seasoned plates of shrimp-stuffed avocados and chuletas will make you all warm and giddy as is, but use some of their house pique to add a tingly burn to each bite. They even sell TSA-friendly bottles to take home. Food Rundown Carne Guisada With Mamposteado It’s the beef stew antidote that’ll revive you after a long day of eating waves and lying on the beach. The stew is thick and should be mixed with the mamposteao. Also use their housemade pique for a tingly kick. photo credit: Mariana Trabanino Tostones Rellenas De Jueyas You can put just about anything atop a crisp toston and it’ll taste great. This slightly salty blue crab mixture is no exception. photo credit: Mariana Trabanino Alcapurrias They’re a little softer than most alcapurrias so they eat like beef-filled gnocchi. We’re not mad at that. PlayMute video credit: Mariana Trabanino Aguacate Relleno De Camarones Al Ajillo This is no teeny Hass avocado. This is a creamy Puerto Rican-grown avocado that’s the size of a newborn’s head. It pairs beautifully with the pile of garlic shrimp nestled inside the pit cavity. The side of plain white rice cuts through some of that richness well. PlayMute video credit: Mariana Trabanino Tres Leches Soaking the sponge cake in coquito is plain genius. You get the sweet milky flavor of a standard tres leches, but with subtle spiked-eggnog notes. PlayMute video credit: Mariana Trabanino" - Mariana Trabanino