Chef Jose Enrique

(contemplative music) - [Ed] After the catastrophic Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico, the loss was massive.

It took almost a year for the entire island to have electricity again.

It became the duty of Chef Jose Enrique to feed his community.

He served thousands of meals out of his popular restaurant.

(peppy island music) A few years back, Tiara and I visited his restaurant.

It was there that I got to experience his passion for feeding people.

He was a Food and Wine Best New Chef.

He was born and raised here, he's distinctly Puerto Rican, He's probably one of the most authentic people I've ever met.

(jazzy piano music) Hey, nice.

What have we got here?

- So this is a red snapper I just brought in today, it's beautiful.

It's deboned, so basically we filet it from the inside out.

We take all the pin bones.

I put cornstarch on the filet side so it's nice and crispy on the bottom, then you get this crispy skin on top.

And it's served with this avocado and papaya mojo.

It's pickled like red onions which are pickled in lime juice, tomatoes, peppers, and then avocado and papaya.

So you get the creaminess from the avocado, but then the papaya brings out a lot of sweetness to it.

Here we have classic, like a empanada.

I guess similar to a schnitzel, except it's fried.

So here we're using beef tenderloin pounded out, fried, two fried eggs on top, which we call a caballo.

Rice, pink beans, and the tostones are on the side.

And then over here, batata, or bonillatos called as well.

It's basically like a root, or tuber down here in the Caribbean.

- A sweet potato.

- Yeah, it's not a potato, but it's kinda like a sweet potato.

Almost like a yam.

And then it gets the mojo on top, as well.

- Is that a native vegetable, or was that brought with somebody at some point?

- Yeah, here in the Caribbean, you will find a lot of roots and tubers.

And over here you've got a little local hot sauce which is classic in Puerto Rico.

You always have the hot sauce on the side of the meal itself.

- Yeah, dishes aren't that spicy.

- No, well, throughout the Caribbean you've got a lot of settlers, right?

Like we had the Spaniards, you have like English and Jamaica, right, or you have Dutch or French throughout the Caribbean.

So the Spanish, they're not really into hot food.

So when you're here, we have chilis growing throughout the island wild, right?

But they're not being used because of that tendency where Spanish aren't really into hot food.

So it's like we're gonna use it, we'll just put it on the side if you don't want it in your food.

And then it became a classic.

So now everywhere you go, you're probably gonna find hot sauce on the side.

- What kind of chilis does it use?

- So right now this has red Thai chili, habanero, and caballero chilis.

And I always do the same recipe.

- Oh, that's nice.

- And then I puree, and that's the end result.

- A little vinegar in there.

- No vinegar.

- No vinegar?

- No vinegar.

Whatever acid you get comes out of the tomato itself.

- Oh, okay.

- (coughing) Ooh, it's hot!

(laughing) - We've been hearing a lot that there's pretty much three influences: Spanish, the native Tyna, is that how you say it?

- Taino.

- Taino?

- Taino Indians, and Africans.

- And then the Africans.

What was here before everyone else came here?

- Well, what was here was the Taíno Indians.

- What were they eating?

- Well, mainly roots and tubers.

- Oh, okay.

- Like a lot of yucca.

- Right, do they grow a lot of their food?

- Well, they've had to.

They weren't importing anything in the 1500's.

- How much is brought in now?

- Right now, right now, a lot.

Right now we bring a lot out.

I mean, when agriculture got cut out of Puerto Rico, and basically we become dependent.

So you end up having to import a lot of food.

- Hawaii we bring in 90%.

- Yeah.

- You do?

So here it's probably close to that.

- Are you seeing the pendulum swinging back where people are getting more into it?

- Well, yeah, and you know what, I think a lot has to do with how big food is right now.

Every other channel you change is like a food show now.

It becomes conscious to where, like wait, I want to eat better food, and how does it get better for me, like picking the eggplant, slicing it, and serving it.

It goes back to that, so searching the best food possible, it starts growing.

And now you're actually starting to see people who are cultivating a lot of greens, and a lot of roots, and it's coming back slowly, but it's coming back.

- Yeah, nice.

- That's great.

I wish I could do that.

I don't have a green thumb, though.

I've got a black one.

- No, you need to hire someone or have a friend do it.

(all laughing) (jazzy guitar music)