Bebo’s Cafe can be found at 1600 Loíza Street in Santurce, San Juan. The restaurant has a second location at Galeria Paseos in Cupey. For more information, call 787-726-1008 (Santurce) or 787-761-1007 (Cupey). It’s a short walk from several hotels in the Condado district, a taxi or bus ride from Old San Juan and Isla Verde.
Bebo Background
Located along an indescribable stretch of Calle Loíza, the pastel yellow building and bright orange and green Bebo’s Cafe sign has long welcomed locals and tourists willing to travel beyond the hotel zone. and venture into the blue collar neighborhood of Santurce.
Bebo (as Ramón Aparicio was known) began serving food in 1975, when his clientele was primarily employees who worked at the nearby Luis Muñoz Marín airport. From those humble beginnings, when his establishment was known as Bebo’s BBQ, the casual restaurant has grown in stature while maintaining its community flair. To this day, you will find the restaurant full of people (in San Juan, when you find Sanjuaneros patiently waiting in line to sit down to lunch, I recommend that you line up behind them), who come for the abundant portions of Delicious, no frills home cooking.
The diner-style atmosphere is combined with the diner-style menu, featuring page after page of laminated soups, wraps, sandwiches and entrees. Welcome to Bebo’s Cafe.
Bebo’s generosity
Bebo’s is a true immersion in Creole food or local cuisine. You’ll find all the old favorites on the menu. Start with a selection of snacks like fried yucca balls stuffed with mozarella (yuca), sorullitos de maiz (cornmeal fritters) or empanadillas (empanadas).
Follow up with tasty, can’t-miss staples like garlic chicken stuffed mofongo or churrasco steak, kan-kan chops, corned beef (yes, they love their corned beef here) or a midnight (a sandwich made with pork, ham and Swiss cheese). You’ll also find some of the more unusual flavors of Puerto Rican cuisine, such as tripe , a stew made with tripe, among other ingredients, and braised pork feet or pork feet.
Prices at Bebo range from very affordable to moderate, but if you really want a culinary bargain, take a look at their great daily specials, all for under $ 10. I went on a Thursday and tried the chicken stuffed canoe , or ‘stuffed canoe Chicken ‘, essentially a half-ripe banana hollowed out in the shape of a canoe and stuffed with juicy, seasoned chicken and completely topped with Parmesan cheese. The combination of sweet banana and slightly tart chicken with a mild kick (or a spicier kick if you want to kick it with the hot sauce from the table) was delicious, and the accompanying side (I went with tostones for mine) was more than enough for satisfy a hungry appetite.
Bebo’s is hidden enough from the tourist spots to maintain its local flavor and character, and yet it’s also easily accessible if you’re in Condado or don’t mind the short cab ride. There are many good Puerto Rican restaurants in San Juan, but there is something about Bebo’s that keeps me coming back. Its basic dining room is nothing memorable; service, while friendly, can be slow, as Bebo’s staff enjoy their time; and the place can be a hike to get to. But for a simple and tasty meal in a casual setting that has been favored by locals for over three decades, Bebo’s will more than satisfy.
