The English Rose
For months now, I've been trying to write up a fantastic article for this blog dedicated to one of the most simple, and spectacular, culinary experiences I've had in the past year. If you've been following me for a while now, you'll know that I'm not very partial to fine-dining cuisine. I like food that's been prepared with heart and soul, with hunger. Fine dining is usually planned, it doesn't tend to just "happen" due to necessity. Now before you come up with a Captain Obvious remark, yes, I know restaurant menus are planned. But we're talking here about the quintessential je ne sais quois behind how a menu is planned and executed.
So, when you run into a little breakfast spot in the middle of nowhere that takes your appreciation of that essence of preparation that makes you love food so much that you blog about it, and takes it to another level, you want to be careful about how you plan and execute your review. You need to do the experience justice.
Rincón is my favorite town in Puerto Rico, not only for its beautiful views and beaches, but because it reminds me of St. Barths. With its laid back attitude, friendly foreigners, stunning blue ocean views, fresh air, lush foliage and downtown surf's-up nods, I can't help but feel like I get to experience a bit of my 2nd home - away from home. I recently spent about 4 days at Casa Isleña Inn (which I wrote about here), and I had some pleasant experiences at restaurants, including a nice Thai dinner at Ode to the Elephants, and a lovely lavender mojito at the Tapas Bar, now La Copa Llena at the Black Eagle. But 2 of the most wonderful experiences of all happened at the unlikeliest places. One of these was a fantastic breakfast at The English Rose Inn, nestled at the top of the mountains in Rincón, and a heck of a difficult place to find with a GPS, by the way. What first took me aback from the place when I stepped in was the decor: it's so homey! I swear I felt as if I was walking straight into one of my aunts' kitchens. We sat on the balcony, and boy is this the place to sit at the English Rose. The view is absolutely breathtaking. 
The service is very English: cheery, respectful, and charming. Each table holds a caddy with cream, butter, sugar, salt pepper, and some of Puerto Rico's artisan fruit jams. The coffee's not too strong, but definitely not watery (thank God), and man, do these girls know exactly how to keep 'em coming! They've got the timing down to a T. As for the menu, Chef Jethro Wickenden Rivera put together 14 mouth-watering items, not counting the children's menu. What gets you are the names some of them have, like The Full Monty, The Topless Tart, and The BBC. We chose two of these, the Full Monty and the BBC.
A taste of the "toms" also lets you know how much you suck at preparing tomatoes.
The Full Monty is described as a classic British breakfast with bacon, sausage, two eggs, toms (tomatoes), mushrooms, bubble and squeak (yesterday's veggies), and toast. The BBC, on the other hand (my choice) is described as an "open toasted croissant topped with balsamic dressed leaves, homemade chicken and cranberry sausages, poached egg and Hollandaise sauce". The presentation on these dishes is gorgeous, bursting with color, and the taste... wow.
Do you know how in some plays, certain characters just kind of blend out of the way and end up as totally forgettable extras? This happens when the writer doesn't give the character any powerful lines, and/or when the actor/actress doesn't put his/her love into it. This also happens with food: a recipe is planned out, but sometimes not much thought is given to the importance of each ingredient. On the other hand, if you have a cook that decides to put his/her heart into the preparation, magic happens. At the English Rose, it was made clear to me that planning dishes and executing dishes are two separate skills, but planning & executing dishes is an art form, a symphony. With each bite of a BBC croissant, the ingredients let you know exactly which ones are there and why, and a taste of the "toms" also lets you know how much you suck at preparing tomatoes. I actually invaded Google to find out how those can be replicated (I haven't found anything... yet).
If you're ever around the western part of Puerto Rico, heck if you make it to the island at all, I implore you to make it a point to visit these lovely people and taste their fabulous food.
Oh, and they also run an Inn, by the way (wink wink).
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The English Rose
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reservations 787.823.4032 / cell 787.207.4615
Carr. interior 413, km 2.0
Bo. Ensenada, Rincón, PR
Po Box 1508
Rincón PR 00677
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