JENNY BLOCK | Contributing Writer
JennyEBlock@icloud.com
I need to start by saying I love San Juan, Puerto Rico. I am grateful to have had the chance to stay there on several occasions, as well as opportunities to stop there a number of times on cruises over the years, since it is an oft-included stop on many a cruise.
I love the food and the people, the shops and the sites, the beaches and history.
There are so many things to do it San Juan. You can explore the forts of Castillo San Felipe del Morro and Castillo San Cristóbal . You can visit historic religious landmarks, including Catedral de San Juan and Capilla del Cristo.
You can visit La Fortaleza and Teatro Tapia.
You can meander Calle Fortaleza and Plaza de Armas. You can do a little shopping at the famous custom hat shop, Ole Puerto Rico, or the custom espadrille shop, HANDMADE.
And I never leave San Juan without having mofongo and at least grabbing a drink at the iconic restaurant and piano bar, The Cannon Club (Ask for a seat on the roof!).
On my last visit, I was curious to try something a little different. So, I got day passes for my wife and me to enjoy La Concha Resort, just a hop, skip and a jump from the cruise port. And I was so thrilled I did.
The resort is right on the ocean in San Juan’s Condado District. It has really groovy, modern Caribbean architecture and a gorgeous oceanfront setting. They have a number of bars and restaurants, as well as a nightclub and casino. They have event space, an oceanfront gym, and a spectacular spa called Elemara.
Elemara is as tranquil as it is inviting. It’s oceanfront, and the décor whispers quiet luxury. It has seven treatment rooms, two of which are outdoors, as well as indoor and outdoor relaxation areas, including a beachfront terrace where we had the best poke bowls after having absolutely fantastic massages.
Their therapists were incredibly thoughtful and attentive. They had to all but drag me out of there.
Two of Elemara’s featured treatments are the Life-Force Oxygen Face Treatment and the Deep Sea Body Massage, which I look forward to trying next time. They use bespoke clean beauty products from Luzern Skincare and OSEA Malibu.
In other words, the place is top-notch.
After having our massages and a light lunch, we lazed in and around the spa pool overlooking the beach, where we had spent the morning basking in the sun in one of their fabulous beach beds.
Finally, it was time for the day’s grand finale: dinner at Levant. Nestled in La Concha’s oceanfront, iconic seashell-shaped space, Levant is an architectural phenom designed in 1958 by Mario Salvatori. And it is rife with surprises.
The chic, light-filled space offers an elevated Eastern Mediterranean inspired menu which incorporates locally sourced produce and freshly caught seafood. Their wine program boasts 400 different wines from around the world, and the menu is presented in sections featuring mezze, crudo, appetizers, pasta and mains.
And, yes, we tried them all.
We started with an amuse bouche, a tiny tartlet shell with crab and anchovy. Then we dove into the chef’s mezze of hummus, tzatziki and taramasalata (their cod “caviar” spread with breadcrumbs and bottarga). We had to stop ourselves from eating every last bite.
From the raw menu, we reveled in the bluefin tuna crudo with preserved lemon and caviar, as well as oysters with lulo-white balsamic mignonette and lemon. Suffice it to say, those two dishes alone would have made for a stellar dinner.
We could not resist getting two pastas to share. So we opted for the casarecce with crab and the chef’s famous fusilli with red wine braised octopus and bone marrow. Both, not surprisingly, were wildly delicious.
For the entrée, we had the cod served with garbanzo beans, Spanish chorizo and tomato and a side of the roasted carrots with harissa, dates, herbs, feta, almonds and EVOO. Every dish was as inventive as it was delicious.
We finished with the Levant budino with mascarpone, dark chocolate and coffee crémeux, feuilletine milk chocolate and coffee crumble, coffee gelee and chocolate tuile — which was equal parts decadent and divine.
It was heaven. That’s the only word I can think of. It was absolute heaven. The space, the food, the staff — everything was top notch. We dined for hours and felt like we were floating on air the entire evening.
Despite La Concha being a large resort, there was something about it that felt like home. Maybe that’s because nothing feels more welcoming than a property that really knows how to spoil guests in a way that feels more familiar than forced.
Or at least, it would feel like home if home were a decadent getaway by the sea.
All I know is that I never get tired of San Juan, no matter how many times I visit. I just love exploring all of the secrets it holds again and again, revisiting what I love and discovering it all over again for the first time.