2 Best Restaurants in El Yunque and the Northeast, Puerto Rico

Chef Daniel Vasse's French country-style dishes are some of the island's best. The Marseille-style bouillabaisse is full of fresh fish and bursts with the flavor of a white garlic sauce. Something less French? Choose steak or fish simply prepared on the grill, and pair it with a bottle from the extensive wine cellar. A Sunday brunch buffet (including a brunch cocktail) offers a seemingly endless seafood bar, drawing people from all over the island.

Northern Italian dishes—such as veal marsala or fillet of beef with a caramelized shallot Barolo reduction—are the star attractions at this top-notch restaurant, where the staff is attentive and amiable. The dining room, with its black-and-white checkerboard floor and dark-wood paneling, is elegant and refined. Before sunset, you can catch a glimpse of the sea through dramatic floor-to-ceiling windows. After dinner, specialty coffees are served in mugs engulfed in blue flames, a showstopper that has people at neighboring tables applauding.