From Pikayo to Payá

Last week I brought you Pikayo, which ended up as my favorite restaurant in Puerto Rico. But Chef Wilo Benet, the jolly genius behind Pikayo, has two other restaurants in San Juan, and this week I thought I'd introduce you to Payá. Payá is a far cry (physically and conceptually) from Chef Wilo's flagship restaurant, Pikayo. Where Pikayo is artistic and chic (with prices to match), Payá is down-home and casual. The one constant? The food is always good, with that unique blend of local ingredients and recipes and creative flavor combinations. The mix, in other words, of simple and complex, of the familiar and the out-of-the-box. That's Chef Wilo in a nutshell, and Payá carries it through with beyond-the-basics comfort foods. It's likely not near your hotel, and there are precious few (read: none) tourist attractions nearby (Payá is located in an office park), but if you want to try a new and affordable take on Chef Wilo's recipes, it's worth going "over there" to get it.