2010 - Budatai

Budatai, a restaurant owned by "Next Iron Chef" contestant, Roberto Trevino in Condado, Puerto Rico. Here's the website:

http://www.ootwrestaurants.com/page.cgi?pag=1a

We decided to share a bunch of appetizers/dim sum offerings and one rice dish. So we ordered:

• the veal potstickers (nightly special)

• the pork dumplings guisados with shaved truffles

• Godzilla rolls (crunchy hamachi, ahi tuna and futumaki)

• duck fried rice with amarillos (yellow plantains)

• 5 spice crème brulee.

The only dish that wasn't fabulous, but just okay were the Godzilla rolls. Although you had the mixed texture of the crunchy hamachi and the soft tuna, there just wasn't a lot of flavor, although it was definitely fresh. The duck fried rice was very, very good, again mixing up the differing textures between the crunchy rice and smooth chewy plantains. We also both liked the potstickers and dumplings. The sauce with the dumplings was really good. The potstickers were also good, but much lighter.

If we ever find ourselves back in Puerto Rico, it is definitely a place we will visit again.