From a French Onion Soup Burger to a Reuben with Medalla: the borderless cooking of Dulcesalado

Chef Atisha Pascual always knew his path would be one of three: chef, pilot or architect. He chose the kitchen because in it he builds temples of food and travels through flavor. He trained in England and worked in New York, then returned to Puerto Rico to bring everything he had learned back to the Island.

At Dulcesalado, his restaurant at the Trópica Beach Hotel in Condado since 2019, Pascual resists categories: the menu merges fine dining with finger food in a single sitting. Elevated classics like rib eye, lobster and dishes with French elements such as foie gras share the menu with a french onion soup burger and a Reuben sandwich, a New York deli staple.

The seating is comfortable, with booth sections upholstered in a tropical green and natural light that makes the space well suited for brunch. The restaurant is, in fact, known for its brunch offerings, especially pancakes made with celery purée and griddled in butter. They come topped with two shrimp, a beurre blanc sauce of white wine, honey and cilantro.

Platea's picks

The French Onion Soup Burger and the Reuben Sandwich are two dishes that define Dulcesalado's identity because they take international references and make them their own.

French Onion Soup Burger. Inspired by a visit to Au Cheval, the well-known Chicago burger restaurant, Pascual built a burger around contrasts: caramelized onion jam for sweetness, Roquefort cheese for saltiness and sautéed mushrooms for umami depth. All of it on house-made brioche. The dish comes with thin, crispy house-cut fries.

Reuben Sandwich. The house version of a New York deli classic. Six layers of corned beef roasted in-house, melted Swiss cheese, house-made sauerkraut macerated in Medalla and thousand island dressing, all pressed until the outside is golden and crisp.

French Onion Soup Burger.

Reuben Sandwich.

Serenata de pescado.

Watermelon sushi.

The chef's picks Pascual

• Watermelon sushi: fresh watermelon with a toasted almond and sesame seed crust, served with goat cheese. A bite that plays with texture, sweetness and salt.

• Serenata de pescado: fresh fish fillet over a root vegetable salad, served with fanned avocado and hard-boiled egg.

Fruit, fish, French influence and nods to New York. The Dulcesalado menu seems to have no borders, and that is precisely what Pascual is after. Consistency amid so much variety, he says, rests on two pillars: the quality of the product and "the love you put into that dish."

Dulcesalado Coffee Shop. A corner of the restaurant designed for before or after the beach. "Here we bake and make our own croissants, our breads, our cookies. We have good coffee and matcha. There are oats in the morning, breakfast burritos and we make the restaurant's sandwiches."

Beyond Dulcesalado

Pascual runs the kitchens of several restaurants in the metropolitan area: he is executive chef of Dulcesalado and of the Hilton Garden Inn at Condado Plaza, where he also oversees Ohno Barbacoa Moderna and Azhar Tasca Moderna. At Plaza Las Américas he operates Panchitos, his casual Mexican food concept.

The next chapter is the return of Bechamel, one of his first restaurants. "They gave us a space in the town of Bayamón, beautiful," he says. The opening is expected in the coming months.

For Pascual, behind that growth are two lessons no culinary school teaches:

• Learn to manage. "Cooking and art, the passion, that's not going anywhere, that's innate, but we have to learn to manage. Managing means that if a dollar came in, you can't spend 50."

• Maintain consistency. That is what brings customers back and builds a loyal community around the product.

What keeps him going, he says, has nothing to do with any kitchen. "Even though we have a lot of businesses running, my kids and my wife are part of the businesses. My kids are what motivate me. And my employees are the ones who help me do everything," he concludes.

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