At Numen, chef Juan José Cuevas cooks local ingredients with a Mediterranean accent

When a chef brings a creation to the table, it is an invitation to travel to another world. When Juan José Cuevas cooks, he hands you the key to his, where respect for the land is law. Today, his dishes live at Numen, on the eleventh floor of the Banco Popular tower in Old San Juan.

The chef, who earned Michelin stars leading the kitchens at Blue Hill and Restaurant 81, won the Prix au Chef de l'Avenir from the International Academy of Gastronomy and was nominated for the James Beard Award, grew up in Utuado.

"I spent my early years on the farm my family had, either growing coffee or feeding the chickens and the cows, picking fruit from the farm. I think that shaped me more than having someone as a cooking role model," he tells Platea.

The farm taught him to respect the land. The Sunday paper taught him to imagine what others did with it. In those pages he found the reds of Beaujolais, a wine region in France, and the most traditional Spanish cooking.

• "From the time I was very small I would get up on Sundays to read it (the press), because whoever was writing back then wrote about Bordeaux, about Burgundy, about the dinner this restaurant had in Spain," he recalls.

"It was like Don Quijote, you know? In his mind he imagined the windmills were warriors," he says with a smile.

What he once imagined now takes shape in his kitchen. Numen, a restaurant in which BluHost and a group of partners has invested more than $1.3 million, draws on Mediterranean influences rooted in France, Italy and Spain, countries where Cuevas lived or worked. Puerto Rico joins that foundation naturally, because, as he puts it, "the blood of plantain stays with you."

• The chef led the kitchen at 1919, in the Condado Vanderbilt, but Numen is something more his own: "For me this is more personal because this is like my restaurant, I mean, it's a new baby in which I can put whatever influences I've had throughout my career," Cuevas says.

Numen means, in the chef's own words, "the energy that transforms." Before the first course, that energy arrives through the eyes, by way of an Art Deco mural by Polish-born artist Henry Antoni Pospieszalski on the wall that greets you as you step off the elevator.

The building, inaugurated in 1939, was the tallest in the Caribbean at the time, and its top floor housed the Bankers Club. The uniforms of the more than 50 employees evoke elegance, and the bar, led by Shawn Medina, revolves around the martini, a classic of the era.

Then there is the view. From the dining room windows, San Juan Bay opens up 180 degrees, with the city eleven floors below. As afternoon fades, the room's golden light makes clear what time has left intact: the frames, the floors and the art that, since the 1930s, has remained on the walls. To that base, the touch of Beatriz Tamayo, the interior designer who reimagined the space, was added.

The bar at Numen overlooks San Juan Bay.

Martini Bar

At the bar, the martini adapts to each person's palate. The menu is divided into four expressions: classic, savory, sweet and contemporary, and the bartender adjusts it to your preference, sweeter or more tart. The house drink is the NU Apple Martini, with vodka infused with fresh and dehydrated green apple, white vermouth and apple.

If you want something more special, order the Martini Tray. The glass arrives with a carafe over ice so you can pour at your own pace. We ordered a not-very-sweet martini with Espalda con Espalda, a Puerto Rican gin.

The menu is divided into five sections.

• Gathering, also called Between Sips, brings together shareable bites to start the night, such as the seafood ensaladilla rusa with chicharrón volao' or the fried chicken with caviar dressing.

• Harvest goes beyond salads, with crudo dishes and cold plates that highlight local produce, such as the cilantro-crusted tuna with pickled ají dulce from Frutos del Guacabo, in Manatí.

• In Craft you'll find the pastas and rice dishes, including a local squash risotto and a rigatoni with local eggplant. "I have like a love for that vegetable that is a ridiculous thing," Cuevas admits about the eggplant.

• Land & Sea closes the savory section with local fish and cuts such as wagyu A5.

• Dessert has its own section, Sweet Finale, and it is one of the surprises of the night. Behind it is Elaine Silva, a 25-year-old pastry chef trained at the Escuela Hotelera de San Juan.

She shares with Cuevas the idea of a dessert with "a lot of depth in flavor," without excess sugar, and that comes through in the Piña-Ají Dulce Vacherin, a pavlova with compressed pineapple, pickled ají dulce, pineapple and lime cream, lemon verbena oil and tepache sorbet, tepache being a traditional Mexican fermented drink made with pineapple rinds and pulp.

At Numen there are three ways to eat. The prix fixe menu, at $140, offers four courses that the diner chooses from the menu. You can also order à la carte, with no rules beyond appetite. And there is the Chef's Table, Cuevas's favorite, where all you have to do is let yourself be surprised.

What we tried

We went with the prix fixe and let Cuevas choose the dishes.

Cilantro-crusted tuna

Gramigna con callos de bacalao

Salmón Ōra King, cocido lentamente

We started with the cilantro-crusted tuna. The plate arrives at the table like a painting. The red of the roasted pepper, the green of the herbs and the pink of the tuna are arranged with the same care Cuevas brings to talking about the land. The flavor lives up to what the presentation promises.

It is a light first course, with a play of textures between the firmness of the tuna and the softness of the pepper, while the pickled ají dulce from Frutos del Guacabo brings a flavor that will feel familiar to any Puerto Rican palate. Lemon and Taggiasca olive oil tie it all together.

Next came the Gramigna with salt cod tripe, mussels, braised guanciale and Thai basil, and with it the moment of the night. The first thing that catches your attention is the pasta, small and shaped into short curls, which turns every bite into an adventure.

It is a fun dish because the salt cod tripe has a gelatinous texture, similar to that of pig's feet. The pasta, fresh and al dente, adds another layer of texture to the plate.

For the main, the slowly cooked Ōra King salmon, which Cuevas has considered his signature dish for years. It is accompanied by local beans, pak choi from Guacabo and cockles. The salmon melts in the mouth, with a delicate, measured richness. The shape of the beans sets up a mix of contrasts worth trying.

To close, the JJ French Toast with ron del Barrilito, lemon curd and almond ice cream. Familiar flavors, presented in a different way. The ice cream is creamy and the toast is fluffy. When you press it, it releases juices that taste of caramel and, with them, the aroma of ron del Barrilito.

“"I like to cook. I love to cook. It's something really exciting, where all your senses come into play," says Cuevas. With that passion he energizes his team. "As a chef you have two great satisfactions. One is your staff, being able to see how you're influencing the way they look at food, at ingredients”

In the dining room, that team is led by Paul A. Chumpén Vértiz, general manager. The result is a young, attentive and knowledgeable service that knows when to approach and when to let the night run its course.

"We keep information about the guest. For example, what their favorite pastry was, what their favorite pasta or favorite dish was. (…). We always care a great deal about how they are going to feel and how they are going to leave our restaurant," Chumpén concludes.

This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).