Many people think that in order to enjoy a delicious meal one would need to eat in an elegant restaurant: to sit on a table with a white tablecloth, to have shiny glasses ready to be filled with wine, look over beautiful centerpieces and a cloth napkin covering your silverware while listening to a slow music from Beethoven.
However, all of those things are not needed in order to enjoy a delicious meal. You can enjoy an unforgettable meal in many places: an elegant or casual restaurant, a food truck, in your mother, grandmother or aunt’s house, but, above else, in “fondas”. If we talk about “fondas” then we must mention La Casita Blanca (the Little White House): a small “fonda” located in Santurce. La Casita Blanca is a very picturesque place that transports you to the time where families and neighbors would come together to eat. It is because of this that WE LOVE “FONDAS”! Because we feel like we are in our grandmother’s house, who which are universally acclaimed as the best chefs in the world because nobody cooks better than grandma!
La Casita Blanca is located in the heart of Santurce in Tapia Street, Villa Palmeras, operating for more than three decades maintaining the same quality and service from the beginning. It is always full of people who come to enjoy the unbelievable smell coming from the kitchen. As soon as you arrive to the restaurant, you will meet a cow at the entrance to welcome you and with that image you will start getting an idea of the experience you are about to witness. Inside the restaurant, you see the wood tables covered with tablecloths with floral or fruit designs. On the table, you will find a bottle of hot sauce that they personally make, the traditional Goya salt, because if it’s Goya, it’s got to be good (a slogan they use) and a handful of napkins held by a particular object: a plantain. You will also see several shelves filled with books and newspapers, and ancient artifacts such as a television, a radio, a cash register, lamps made from aluminum bowls and paper bags, plants giving a touch to the interiors and classic clay figures. This place has a huge personality.
Rice with chicken Stew | Steak with onions
Now, what we are interested is in the food, and, yes, the food is delicious. Although the menu from La Casita Blanca is not an extensive one the selection that they have is more than enough to enjoy diversity. The menu is written of a small black board and you can find meat stew, fried meat, fried cutlet, fillet of grouper, steak with onions, chicken stew and more as main courses. Prices range from $7.95 to $14.50 USD, which is quite economical considering that they are located in a busy area in Santurce. When it comes to drinks, they have soda, juices and the Maviada: which is a mavi sangria. Even though the drink is a bit strong, it does not change the fact that it is tasty.
Something special about this place is that when you arrive they serve you fried codfish and chicken soup, courtesy of the house. A typical Puerto Rican tradition in the old days when in the houses you visited you were received with these type of snacks. To finish your meal the traditional way, they give a shot of anise chichaito with three coffee beans, in honor of health, love and money. La Casita Blanca is a treasure in Santurce, a place you can’t miss. It is a humble place that offers excellent service and delicious food at an affordable price. If you haven’t had an experience like this, we invite you visit La Casita Blanca and let yourself be treated with excellent service with a Puerto Rican culinary experience, just like our grandmother used to do.
About the place:
La Casita Blanca has very limited parking areas around the restaurant, to which we recommend to park nearby. The hours of operations are from Monday to Wednesday from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm. Thursday from 1:30 am to 5:00 pm. Friday and Saturday from 11:30 am to 9:00 pm and Sunday from 11:30 am to 5:00 pm. Their telephone number is 787-726-5501. The coordinates to get there are 18.4434346,-66.0558456.
If you want to see more pictures, you can go to our gallery on Pinterest HERE.
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