Vieques is crawling with roadside foodstands. We ate these pastelillos, filled with conch, chicken, or beef, at the stand just across the entrance to Sun Bay. Cold beer and hot sauce make this my favorite lunch on the island.
Apparently others feel the same way:
Vieques is home to two kinds of locals: Those who are born there and those who are made. The latter group, mostly from the mainland U.S.A., have come to the island to check out and chill. I consider Charlie, who used to live in the west 80s but now serves burgers out of this fantastic cart, their patron saint, and you’d be foolish not to have a Charlieburger, preferably a double, if you travel here.
Of course no tropical vacation would be complete without plenty of fruity drinks.
Duffy’s serves better-than-average bar food including some fresh local seafood, but be sure to ask what’s what: There is a surprising amount of frozen fish found in restaurants here (and on other islands). I have no idea why. It is a riddle wrapped in mystery wrapped in an an enigma in a Twinkie. Or maybe a Charlieburger.
Vieques’ biggest attraction, besides the miles of unspoiled beaches, is the Bioluminescent Bay. At night, when the water is agitated by a kayak paddle or a fish swimming below the surface, bright blue light is emitted by the microscopic dinoflagellates who live here in high concentration. It’s really, really neat. This has nothing to do with food except that some clever person created this:
It’s one of my favorite souvenirs, ever.
Daniel and I spent our honeymoon in Vieques. We spent most of our time on the more secluded beaches so we didn’t hit a lot of the roadside stands. We just stopped at one spot picked up our bag of empanadas and hit the beach. It was heaven. We would get dinner out and because we had a kitchen at out place (Hix Island House) I cooked with the leftovers. Steak and eggs with local coffee, mangoes and bread. We went to the local stores, bought chorizo and made saffron shrimp fajitas. Pretty much one of best weeks of out lives.
I have spent a lot of time in Puerto Rico and often been baffled when I cannot find local, fresh fish. I cook for a living and using frozen fish makes me cringe…
What I am told is that because of the short shelf life of fish they freeze it right as it comes off the boat or event at sea. You need to catch the boats right when they come back from fishing.
That all being said, I have never been disappointed with the frozen fish that has been available.