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Aguadilla.- Constantly pushing their creativity, these two chefs at Flora restaurant, in Aguadilla, innovate every week by adjusting their menu to the availability of crops from farmers in the area.

This farm-to-table concept, a challenge for this duo, has become an excellent culinary option for discerning diners who’d like to try something new and different. The restaurant’s name, Flora, refers to native crops.

“We chose the name Flora because we want to explore Puerto Rico’s flora,” explained Rafael Fonseca Ferrer and Luis Guerra Villanueva, two young Puerto Rican chefs and owners of the restaurant. Aware of the need to consume more natural products, they have developed this concept, which seeks to experiment with what is currently available.

“In Puerto Rico, we consume so little of our own food and we don’t know everything we can do with it. We are trying to support local farmers by offering them a place where we buy their produce. Independent farmers cannot grow crops en masse because they are limited by what they can harvest, so we adjust to them. For example, they could me this week: ‘I have ten pounds of kale’ and we get creative with it. This week we were given squash and the menu changed because I had to adjust to it,” said Fonseca Ferrer.

Although he admitted that operating the restaurant was difficult at first because customers didn’t understand the lack of a fixed menu, many decided to venture out and taste the restaurant’s local dishes.

“We use local flavors. It is not your typical, everyday serving of rice, beans and meat; but it is a local dish because it features meat and products from the local harvest. That’s our dynamic; we adjust to our local farmers. We don’t have a fixed menu, so it changes almost completely or partially on a weekly basis. The menu mainly features natural ingredients, since we buy everything locally; at least all the ingredients that are produced in Puerto Rico. Right now we have shishito peppers. One out of seven of these peppers is spicy and they’re hard to come by, but they’re grown locally. We also have habanero peppers that aren’t spicy, these are a different type of pepper that aren’t spicy and have a lot of flavor,” added Fonseca Ferrer.

Among the most popular menu options is the one-pound ribeye steak, served with canol sweet potato with Cuban mojo marinade and kale; tuna tataki with pickled tubers in Kalamata olive cream and fresh oregano, and the sweet habanero peppers in beer batter accompanied with smoked tofu.

“We purée the tofu, and then we smoke it and serve it as a dip. We season it with honey and other spices. We also prepare tuna and a variety of meats and fish, such as mahi-mahi and red snapper. The cabrito (mutton), the fish, the pork, and the chicken are also locally sourced,” explained the creative chef.

Many of the restaurant’s customers arrive after being enticed by the pictures of the dishes that are posted on social media, and others arrive out of curiosity for tasting vegan food. However, the two charismatic chefs clarify that the culinary ingenuity and the menu’s uniqueness “doesn’t mean we are a vegan restaurant per se, as we also serve meat as entrées; we just try to serve the most natural food possible.”

Since they do not have a fixed menu, both chefs —on a weekly basis— check the products from the harvest and then sit down to create the recipes, trusting their culinary skills.

“We don’t get bored, personally I like it, I have fun making the dishes, creating menus and changing things; plating and combining flavors. Right now we have the pork chop; we cut the pieces of meat and marinate them as if they were a very large steak, but it’s still pork. It’s served with local stewed white beans with chorizo and we put the big pork chops on top; people have liked it very much,” said Fonseca Ferrer.

The varied menu includes appetizers, main courses and desserts. “For every single product there’s 14 different ways to cook them. If we bake an ingredient this week and it is still available next week, we could steam it, serve it in gazpacho, or mash it. We try to serve ingredients that are currently in season. During the summer, we go tropical because there’s many fruits available... we also use them for desserts, like the mango mousse with papaya jam, or the mango purée with walnuts,” explained Guerra Villanueva.

Flora Restaurant is open Wednesday through Sunday from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Reservations not required, but if desired, call (787) 224-4226.