Above: Jose Andres (Photo: Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve)
By the Caribbean Journal staff
Internationally-renowned Chef Jose Andres will be helming the new Mi Casa restaurant at the soon-to-open Ritz-Carlton Reserve Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico.
And according to Andres, the kitchen will take some cues from the past — drawing from the resort’s history as the onetime Laurence Rockefeller Estate.
“Dorado Beach’s rich history provided amazing inspiration to put forward a bold menu celebrating the legacy of the people and cuisine that shaped this unique destination and push me to share some of my own stories,” Andres said in a release. “Mi Casa will celebrate the many influences of Puerto Rico’s delectable gastronomy with a touch of Spanish influence.”
He said the menu will be inspired by indigenous recipes, using the “highest quality of local ingredients,” and the “exquisite wonderful flavours of the Caribbean.”
“Puerto Rico is the perfect meeting place between Spain, the country I come from, and America, the country where I now belong,” he said. “The meeting point of the two worlds [is] where magic can happen.”
Among the cuisine featured will be locally-caught seafood and what Andres billed as “avant-garde” dishes, with small plates and featured meals focusing on “farm-fresh ingredients.”
Also on the menu will be antojitos and tapas of Puerto Rican and Spanish origin, he said.
On the beverage side, Mi Casa’s cocktails will emphasize “Puerto Rico’s rich history of rum.”
Architect and longtime Andres collaborator Juli Capella is overseeing the restaurant’s design.
Andres, who studied under noted chef Ferran Adria at El Bulli, has restaurants around the world, including in Washington, DC, Las Vegas and Beverley Hills, Calif.