LaVerguenza Puertorrican Chinchorro
280 Bulevar del ValleWe didn’t rent a car in San Juan because we figured it’d be cheaper not to. We were pretty right on that. Uber’s were cheap. I don’t think we ever paid over $10 before tip anywhere we went in the city.
Most of our drivers were quiet, which is fine with me. I don’t always like small talk. On Saturday morning, we got a pretty chatty and knowledgeable driver who gave us a quick history lesson and pointed out some places to visit along our route.
We were driving up Calle Norzagaray on our way to the Farmer’s Market. He pointed out the La Perla barrio where the music video for Despacito was filmed then across the street, a bar he liked that had great ocean views.
La Verguenza Puertorrican Chinchorro is a multi-level bar on the corner of Calle Norzagaray and Calle Tanca in Old San Juan. The address for the bar is Bulevar del Valle and I don’t know if that’s just another name for one of the streets or what but that name doesn’t show up on maps….but if you put the address in Google, it gets you to the right place.
The bar is a series of small room and small rooftop patios with amazing views. The first room you walk into is the bar. There are some pub stools at the wooden bar covered with corrugated sheet metal. We asked the bartender how to get upstairs and she pointed to a doorway which led us to an enclosed staircase.
That staircase led to a small room with a few tables and access to a balcony where there were chairs. This place really looks like it might have been a house at one point.
That small rooms leads to the lower of two rooftop patios. There’s a staircase that leads to a second roof from this patio but we didn’t notice and just stopped here. The space is partially covered with metal chairs and tables on a tile floor.
There’s a small bar tucked in to the corner underneath the staircase going to the next level. The specialty, of course, mojitos.
The real reason we stopped at this bar is the view of the Atlantic. Palm trees across the street and the La Perla neighborhood below with the forts on either side give this location some spectacular, relaxing views.
We had just eaten a big brunch at Chocobar Cortes prior to make the walk up the hill so this was just going to be a quick drink and relax stop. The food menu is linked above if you’re interested but we didn’t even look at it. We were stuffed.
There were a few beers on the menu, nothing on draft, but a few local crafts in cans. I ordered the Crash Boat IPA from Boqueron Brewing Company. Man, did it feel good to drink an IPA. My beer had been pretty limited to Red or Blonde Ales since we got to San Juan so getting my hands on an IPA…even one that wasn’t super hoppy, felt like a win.
J, of course, ordered a Coconut Mojito. I was supposed to watch how she made it because we were trying to figure out what made the drink milky but I didn’t watch and had to Google it later…it’s Cream of Coconut. J said it wasn’t as good as the ones she had been getting at the hotel but it was still delicious and still refreshing after making the trek up the steep hill on Calle Norgzagaray.
The bill before tip was $12.
We definitely drew the good Uber driver this particular morning. There’s no way we would have actually walked back up to this place without his recommendation. It looks like this place can get pretty wild at night with the party spilling over in to the street that appeared to be closed to traffic as there were tables and chairs set up along the building.
SW Michigan Dining 