Exploring the Enchanting Food of Puerto Rico

Senor Big Ed

5490 Lincoln Ave. 

Cypress, CA 90630

Well, it finally happened. We are getting rid of our good friends Sabrina and Anthony. They have decided to take the plunge and move to Washington. They decided they did not want to battle the traffic on the 91 Freeway for two hours plus each day, wanted to live where they have actual seasons, and move closer to her sister. To celebrate their big decision we decided to meet up for one big dinner before they had to pack up and head to the great Northwest.

In another shocking twist on things, they actually picked the restaurant we'd eat at. They had recently had a very positive experience at Senor Big Ed in Cypress. I had never heard of this Puerto Rican place before, and I have to admit, I really had no idea what Puerto Rican food entailed. I imagined it would be like Cuban food, and then I glanced at a map and found out that nearly 800 miles separate the two islands in the Carribean Sea, so I really had no idea what to expect.

I did do a quick search of Puerto Rican food online and found that the cuisine is influenced by the people of Spain, Africa, America, and the Tanio Arawak, the indigenous inhabitants of the island. The menu at Senor Big Ed is full of Puerto Rican favorites; mofongo, arroz con gandules, guisado, and plenty of plantains are all represented here. I had no idea what I'd be trying when we drove up to the restaurant.

Senor Big Ed is in an area of OC that we do not get up to nearly enough. The only other spot we have visited in this North OC city was Joe Schmoes nearly 5 years ago. Way too much time between visits and we will try to rectify that going forward. Senor Big Ed is situated in a strip of shops on the corner of Walker and Lincoln, a block away from Cypress College.

The restaurant has been in business for over twenty years, if not significantly more. I could not find an exact date online, but I place it between 20 to 30 years based on some of the Yelper reviews. Puerto Rican pride is evident inside the restaurant with plenty of flags, a map of the island, and pictures highlighting the beauty of the island adorning the walls. There's also a claw machine, which got lots of use by the kids eating here. They were pretty good at it also, getting plenty of stuffed animals out of the machine. I wasn't hoping for a stuffed animal, but a great meal. Let's see if I got lucky also.

We started out our journey of Puerto Rican food with their Sampler Plate ($14.50). Sampler plates are always the way to go so you can get a good lay of the land. This one included a Puerto Rican Tamale, a Meat Turnover, a Cheese Turnover, an Alcapurria, a Relleno de Pappas, Tostones, and Fried Yellow Plantain. I really enjoyed the two turnovers and the relleno de papa, which was a potato ball stuffed with ground beef. The turnovers were definitely reminiscent of empanadas that I have had at other places. The plantains were pretty solid, and I could not decide if I liked the smashed versions or the sweeter ones better. The alcapurria, the long thin brown item in the upper right of the photo, was a green banana fritter filled with ground beef. It was okay, but a little over fried. I was not in love with the tamale. It was made of plantain I think, and nothing was inside, so it was a bit boring to me. It also had a pretty damp texture that I was not expecting. A good sampler platter though.

Sabrina kept the sampler platter vibe going with her entree on this evening the Combo #2, which was a Relleno de Papa and a Cheese Turnover. She seemed to like both but only ate half to save for lunch the next day. Very thrifty Sabrina. Combo plates come with your choice of rice and plantains. You could go with regular plain white rice, but we all selected the much more flavorful guisado with grandules, which is the national dish of Puerto Rico and is Spanish rice with pigeon peas. Very flavorful and comforting. You can get your plantains both smashed and fried or soft and sweet, or a combination of the two which is what we all did. The menu also stated that you get beans, but none of our plates included them, a fact that we didn't notice until we had finished our meals.

Probably the most famous of all Puerto Rican foods, and the most fun to say is the Mofongo Relleno ($13.99). Green plantains are mashed tightly and then topped with your choice of meat. Anthony got the beef version. I tried a bite of the beef and it was very tender with a nice sauce covering it. Anthony has been here two times, and this is what he's gotten on both visits. I guess if it's not broke, don't deviate from the plan.

I also went with the Mofongo Relleno ($13.99), but I selected the pork version. When I read up on the mofongo before coming to Senor Big Ed's, I thought this dish was going to be too dry, but it was moist and flavorful. The pork was nice and tender and made even better with some of their garlic sauce, which you need to ask for when you visit.

Katie went with the Canoa De Platano Maduro ($10.99) as her first foray into Puerto Rican food. This was an open-faced plantain filled with ground beef and then covered with cheese. She loved the mix of the savory and sweet with this dish. A very comforting dish for this colder than average evening. She would not hesitate to get this one again

I felt pretty good with our visit to Senor Big Ed. I admit that when Sabrina and Anthony first picked it, I was not that enthused. I did not think I was going to enjoy it as much as I did. What I learned is that plantains are way more versatile than I ever knew. They use them in so many ways. I liked the different spices and sauces of Puerto Rican cuisine. They made this food very unique. Service was not the best this evening. Our server left us for long stretches of time, and we had to ask numerous times for garlic sauce and refills. Even with the subpar service, if you are looking for something a little out of the norm from what you are used to, definitely give Senor Big Ed a try. One last meal with Sabrina and Anthony, but we look forward to exploring the restaurant scene with them when they move to Washington.

Out of five telescopes, (because the largest telescope in the world is located in Puerto Rico, and you should definitely get a closer look at the cuisine of this island), five being best to zero being worst, Senor Big Ed gets 3 telescopes.

Senor Big Ed has a very limited website, which you can access here: http://dineoptions.com/SenorBigEd/?fbclid=IwAR3dZwRahx4ef2v3T8SQ25Jgok-eZcdHj9FgRAEa-lQI5mI_FvN-Vxiujgo