Bacalao PR Style: La Palma

Bacalao PR Style: La Palma

Last night, the Wife and I stopped by La Palma for some hot-table grub.

The fried stuff was just okay (looked -- and tasted -- as though it'd been sitting on the counter a tad too long), and they were out of lechon and cuchifrito (fried pig ear stew), so we went with bacalao guisado two ways, in red and white sauce.

I liked both, though The Wife preferred the version in white sauce (oil-based), which she was surprised to find contained pieces of fish more tender than was found in the red sauce (a light tomato base) – she figured the acid in the tomato would have softened the flesh more than mere oil (my McGee-like guess as to why this happened: the acids in the tomato tightened and toughened the protein strands).

This was pollack, rather than the traditional cod (which I’m guessing is maybe too expensive?), but I liked both versions…though I cannot say if they are good representatives of this Puerto Rican take on an almost universal dish. The fish was somewhat jerky-like, but I liked that; this was some toothsome stuff, putting up resistance, and I found that chewiness pleasant, though, as I say, perhaps not the traditionally recognized ideal texture for bacalao.

La Palma
1340 N. Homan
773.862.0886

David,

Funny you should mention La Palma, I haven't been in a while, almost went last week but ended up at Tropical Taste. It's always been one of my favorites for fried/baked Puerto Rican style meats. I'm also a fan of the steam table items, in particular the deliciously starchy malanga.

Far as the "fried stuff" just being ok, I've only been at lunch, when they seem to do a land-office business, and the items are being refreshed often.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:David,

Funny you should mention La Palma, I haven't been in a while, almost went last week but ended up at Tropical Taste. It's always been one of my favorites for fried/baked Puerto Rican style meats. I'm also a fan of the steam table items, in particular the deliciously starchy malanga.

Far as the "fried stuff" just being ok, I've only been at lunch, when they seem to do a land-office business, and the items are being refreshed often.

Enjoy,
Gary

Yes, of the several vianda we had, I liked the purple-white malanga best: it was more than just a starch platform; it had a real personality, for a tuber.

I did read your post on La Palma before I went, and was sorry to see they were out of lechon. I did get some "fried thick bacon" (which I lust for, unabashedly) and carnitas, but it was near the end of the day, which would explain the somewhat sorry state of some fried items.

Overall, I like this little place.

Hammond

Hammond,

Neglected to say thanks for the run-down on the bacalao guisado two ways, I've not had that at La Palma and your description of the slightly chewy, toothsome bacalo in red sauce sounds quite good.

Enjoy,
Gary

Another good thing about the bacalao is that it has considerable staying power. I bought it last week, took a little home, and just had some for dinner, and it's still quite firm and flavorful. The stuff is preserved after all, and it has been sitting in oil, but I was surprised that there was no apparent deterioration over the past six days or so.

Today at La Isla (formerly Ibis), I had this foodstuff in a new form (for me): a bacalaito, a kind of fritter with fish worked into the dough, which tasted pretty much as it looks, modeled here by Vital Information.


La Isla Café
2509 W North
773.278.4433

Wow! I once saw Daisy Fuentes make bacalaitos on her show, but they were little "normal sized" fritters. That thing looks like a schnitzel.

Best,
Michael

I ate those in PR this winter and did not find them all that exciting, not fishy enough. Certainly not exciting as the cooking method:

I much preferred the alcapurrias stuffed with shredded crab (the banana shaped fritters on the right). Anyone know a good source for these here in town- Las Esquinas in Humboldt Park, perhaps?

Yes, La Esquina's are pretty good. Not stuffed with crab, though.

David Hammond wrote:Today at La Isla (formerly Ibis), I had this foodstuff in a new form (for me): a bacalaito, a kind of fritter with fish worked into the dough, which tasted pretty much as it looks, modeled here by Vital Information.

2509 W North
773.278.4433

It's always nice to enjoy lunch with a fellow foodie, but I can hardly vouch for La Isla (!)

The overwhelming brown-ness of lunch was especially depressing--brown roast pork, brown fried pork, brown chicken (how DO they get everything so brown), brown fish, even, really, brown rice (and not that kinda brown rice.).

Vital Information wrote:

David Hammond wrote:Today at La Isla (formerly Ibis), I had this foodstuff in a new form (for me): a bacalaito, a kind of fritter with fish worked into the dough, which tasted pretty much as it looks, modeled here by Vital Information.

2509 W North
773.278.4433

It's always nice to enjoy lunch with a fellow foodie, but I can hardly vouch for La Isla (!)

The overwhelming brown-ness of lunch was especially depressing--brown roast pork, brown fried pork, brown chicken (how DO they get everything so brown), brown fish, even, really, brown rice (and not that kinda brown rice.).

Yes, it was a monochrome meal. Even my tamarind drink was, you know, brown.