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Hormigueros.- When it comes to criollo food, the roads lead to Cocina Barbosa in Hormigueros. There you will always find the incomparable Puerto Rican seasoning in a variety of dishes that allow you to taste an infinite number of delicacies with a different menu each day.

You will go crazy with the variety of meats, poultry, seafood, rice and pasta. Not to mention the sancocho on Mondays that disappears in the blink of an eye, as well as the masitas de pescado (fish nuggets) on Fridays.

It is a family business created by Jeanette Barbosa-García and her husband Jorge González. They flirted with the idea of opening a restaurant to serve the people of the town and in the surrounding areas, from Guánica to Mayagüez.

Jeanette, who has been working in the food industry for more than 27 years, is the one responsible for giving the food that little touch of love. The locale will open in March 2022, according to the San Germán native.

“Before settling in Hormigueros, we had a kitchen on Highway PR-103 in Cabo Rojo. But it was a regular kitchen, with no service to the public. We only delivered catering and hors d’œuvres,” said the 47-year-old woman.

She stated that moving to Hormigueros was the best choice. It represents a strategic point “for the type of business we developed, where we do catering, hors d’œuvres and now we’re providing proper lunches.”

“Hormigueros is at the very center between San Germán, Cabo Rojo and Mayagüez. And it’s a strategic place for us to establish ourselves because our clientele is from the area, as far as Guánica and Lajas,” said her daughter Jeaneska Matos-Barbosa, who also works at the locale.

Barbosa-García emphasized that “this was a project between my husband and me. We’d always sit down and say that we would set something up, because I’ve worked in this all my life; he’s been a manager for hardware stores and [for other businesses].”

Despite the desire to open the business, it was an uphill climb; a situation that changed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“I have a 14-year-old girl that I had to keep an eye on during her online classes. We had to make some adjustments at work so we could accommodate to her and give her some kind of supervision. That pushed us to set up the business,” she confessed.

The locale has a bar and an area that accommodates up to 36 guests at a table.

El restaurante se especializa en catering y preparar bandejas, y además, sirve almuerzo todos los días. En la foto “wrap” de pollo.The restaurant specializes in catering and preparing hors d’œuvres, and serves lunch every day. Pictured, a chicken wrap. (Wanda Liz Vega-Dávila)

“We do criollo and international food, because we make everything here: stuffed pork loin, stuffed chicken breast, pastas, sancocho, shrimp asopao, masitas de pescado and even beef fricassee, which is a dish that isn’t normally sold around here,” said Jeannette’s eldest daughter who is 24 years old.

“Sancocho is on the fixed menu we have every Monday. It’s sold out before 10:30 in the morning, just like the masitas de pescado on Fridays, they both sell out fast. Those are our two fixed dishes, because we change the menu every day,” she said.

According to Barbosa-García, the menu has four different alternatives each day. It includes two types of rice and six to seven side dishes, such as mashed root vegetables, sautéed potatoes, cassava with mojo, mofonguitos, tostones, sweet plantains, among others.

Some recipes prepared by Jeannette include: fried pork chops, biftec with onions, barbecued ribs, masitas de pollo, chicken breast in chimichurri sauce or Alfredo sauce, chicken thighs stuffed with sweet plantains, steak strips with garlic, and chicken wrap.

They can be accompanied by rice with pigeon peas, Provenzal rice, rice with bacon, mamposteao rice, rice with onion, Greek rice or the typical white rice and stewed beans. It would all depend on the menu prepared by Barbosa-García for that day.

The business, whose operation generates five jobs, also continues to offer catering services for 30 to 200 people, whether for weddings, quinceañeras, birthdays, baby showers, among other activities.

According to Jeannette, “clients come here from all over the area. One time we had people from Vega Baja after they had been told about us. We were recommended to them and they visited us. We’ve had catering service orders from the United States for activities on the island.”

The owners also sponsor local suppliers in order to “support local folk.”

For details: Barbosa Kitchen on Facebook and Instagram, cocinabarbosa@gmail.com or call 787-689-1547.