I'm usually not a big breakfast person but when I'm vacation (especially a beach or active vacation) I usually indulge in breakfast since I know I'll be doing lots of activities later. We kind of did the reverse this time where, we drove down to the black sand beaches first to check them out and then went for breakfast in town. While the breakfast at the W actually looked pretty good and surprisingly affordable for hotel food, we wanted to stay local and stopped by Belly Buttons on the way back to the hotel.
It's located in Esparanza towards the end of the street. Similar to a lot of the other casual bars in the area, it's got a open outdoorsy feel to it and is super casual with a bunch of beach chotskies surrounding the walls and ceiling. Luckily, they seemed like one of the few places actually serving breakfast food, which was great. We got there around 11AM, right when they were switching over to lunch but the waitress said that we could still order breakfast sandwiches if we wanted to. We split a Greek salad ($10.95) to start, we each got a breakfast sandwich ($4.95 or $6.50 if you want bacon or sausage) and Deanna and I split an order for fries ($3) because that's all I seem to crave them I'm on vacation. The Greek salad was a bit of a bummer - it was not really real traditional Greek salad with big ripe juicy red tomatoes and large chunks of feta, this was more of a garden salad with some crumbled feta and olives thrown in there. It's fine, I mean we are in Puerto Rico and not the Mediterranean, so I can't really expect it to be perfect. The waitress had raved about the local baked fresh bread on the breakfast sandwiches and yes, it was soft and delicious but not sure if it's something I would rave about. It was, however, a very solid and satisfying breakfast sandwich - the egg was nicely fried (not over cooked) and there was a layer of gooey cheddar cheese and for me a thick salty sausage patty. The fries were also salty, crispy and delicious but totally unnecessary.
Overall, this is a good local island beach hang if you want to grab some affordable casual food away from the hotel. The menu is standard fare with basic sandwiches and burgers, but it's what you would expect of a place called Belly Buttons that's on a tiny Caribbean island. Total bill: $50 for 3 people with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
Tin Box Carretera 201 S/N, Vieques, Puerto Rico 00765
Although the Caribbean is known of fresh seafood, I usually don't associate it with oysters, raw bar or sushi. The seafood is usually more grilled or fried fish and shrimp. So I was pleasantly surprised to find a place that had a different spin on seafood than the rest of the island. The Tin Box is also located in a random part of town, where 2 of the big main roads intersect in the middle of the island, so it's not in either of the 2 big towns. When we arrived, the place was strangely full of older fratty men - almost like they were all on a boating outing and just came back to shore. It felt like I was at a Jimmy Buffet concerts for some reason. None the less, it's a nice places to check out and I'm sure it's even nicer during the day when you can see the treehouse-like structure.
The menu is an interesting mix of raw bar, BBQ, ribs, po boys, sushi, and other entrees. Totally random. After eating a lot of grilled fish and french fries, I was craving sushi, so I was able to get my fix in here. They have a fairly extensive sushi menu of a bunch of different kinds of rolls. I narrowed it down to the lobster roll ($12) and the snapper with seared tuna roll ($13). Deanna got the marinated tofu skewers ($16) and Allison got a side of cornbread and roasted potato ($3 each). Obviously this isn't going to be some traditional authentic Japanese style sushi and if you go into it with that level expectation, you'll be fine. The lobster roll didn't really taste a lot like crab, it seemed more heavy on the kani crab meat instead and it also had bits of arugula in it, which was a first for me. I'm not a huge fan of leafy greens in my sushi but it also didn't bother me that much either. It was wrapped in soy paper which was a nice touch and covered with spicy mayo. It wasn't bad and with 8 pieces, it was pretty filling. The other roll had snapper on the inside and topped with seared tuna - this roll was a bit too heavy on the rice for me. I did try a bite of the tofu skewers and they were actually really good! If you are a vegetarian, I would say this is probably one of the better veggie friendly dishes you'll get on the entire island.
Overall, this place is a nice change of pace from the busy commercial streets in Esparanza and Isabel. Who knew that you could actually get oysters and sushi on an island like this? Total bill: $68 for 3 with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
No comments:
Post a Comment