The budín de guayaba is a warm guava bread pudding with rum sauce, served with vanilla ice cream on the side. Native artwork hangs on the wall, and the island’s national symbol, the coqui frog, is centered on each table.įor an added kick of flavor. The accents around the dining room are gold, adding a flair to the earth tones. The bare, concrete walls are a warm beige, similar to the pueblos on the island. The interior of the restaurant is reflective of an upscale design that you would typically see in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I remember from my childhood in Puerto Rico when I pulled yams from the ground with my grandmother, drank fresh milk from a cow in the morning with my grandfather, and ate dinners prepared on the fogón with whatever else could be found on the land in the evenings.” He continues, “Before Brooklyn, before supermarkets, and before sazón and adobo, these are my earliest memories of Puerto Rican food,” he stated on the website. The owner, Kenny Candelaria explains what inspired him to open the restaurant, “Cocina Candela is an experiment in Puerto Rican gastronomy honoring the traditions of our Taíno roots, and the purity of ingredients. 31532 Old San Juan Rd, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675. Here’s a peek at what’s on the menu at Cocinna Candela located at 706 Bloomfield Avenue. Nearby homes similar to 32261 Paseo Candela have recently sold between 2,200K to 5,700K at an average of 720 per square foot. Tucked into the middle of the sidewalk is a Puerto Rican restaurant serving up native dishes, playing the island’s very own salsa music, and transforming the street into an upscale tropical experience.
And though it might be hard to imagine a little slice of la Isla de Encanto right in the heart of Montclair, it exists in the form of Cocina Candela.
The vibrancy of Puerto Rican culture comes alive in its dishes.