In a small coastal town, on a beautiful island just six miles to the east of Puerto Rico lies a retreat that defies easy description. Opening last October with just 21 rooms, El Blok is an iconic “inn by the sea” with a strikingly modern aesthetic, pared down simplicity, uncompromising comfort, and contemporary Puerto Rican atmosphere that make it a very rare Caribbean find.
Owner Simon Baeyertz hand-picked award winning, San Juan-based architecture firm Fuster + Partners to create this uniquely curved-shaped LEED Gold certified hotel that is part sculpture and part contemporary tropical oasis.
The island of Vieques has impossibly beautiful beaches – made even more exquisite by the world’s brightest bioluminescent bay. After years of use as a live fire range and multi force training ground, protests forced the US Navy to depart, preserving most of the beaches in a pristine national fish and wildlife reserve. Now beaches such as La Chiva and Playa Caracas are some of the most unspoiled and undeveloped in the world. The warm blue water laps onto white sand, and the sight of wild horses transports one to a laid back Caribbean of an earlier time before the presence of mega resorts.
El Blok was constructed on a space that was formerly occupied by a single three-bedroom house. This carefully sparing use of land led to a very efficient structure – its footprint and location providing the literal base for the sustainable ethos behind the hotel. The majority of El Blok’s furniture throughout the public spaces, guest rooms, and restaurant was crafted locally from recovered indigenous Puerto Rican hardwoods found in the nearby forests around Ciales. The building itself was constructed to consume about 45% less energy than a conventional building of its volume. Its curved shape, cast iron brise-soleils on the building’s facade, and strategically placed “light wells”, are not only aesthetically unique and breathtaking, but also serve the functional purpose of allowing the building to best utilize natural sunlight and ventilation. The central circular light well illuminates the interior, enticing guests to the rooftop pool or out to the beach just steps away. Sculpture and design installations from Puerto Rican environmental artists, Javier and Jaime Suarez create an atmosphere as stimulating as it is comfortable.
Inspired by the beach restaurants of St. Tropez’s heyday and with the Puerto Rican influence of Chef Jose Enrique, (one of Food & Wine Magazine’s Top 10 Best New Chefs of 2013, a James Beard Award semifinalist in 2013, 2014), El Blok’s restaurant menu is based primarily on the wood grill and rotisserie. The focus of the menu is on the small plates and appetizers, with the large format entrees being an intentionally simple choice between Pompano fish, Roasted Chicken, Pork Porterhouse, and Flank Steak, all cooked over indigenous Sour Orange wood. There will be a large selection of Puerto Rican starters: ceviches, little fried bites and tastes, including a Charcuterie with conch salad, smoked marlin and lobster sausage and the Blok Scotch Egg with longaniza sausage and creole sauce.
Like Jose Enrique’s lauded eponymous restaurant in San Juan, El Blok restaurant will have an emphasis on locally sourced products including coffee, organic greens, and heritage pigs raised specifically for the chef, producing a healthy, minimalist, type of cuisine that is accented with the flavors of the Caribbean. Serving excellent cocktails made delicious by their freshness and simplicity, the bar is the focal point on the large open terrace, which is shared with the reception area and the restaurant. The open terrace serves as the communal space that forms the core of the whole hotel. “El Blok is really a restaurant and bar with rooms,” says Baeyertz, who comes from the music industry where he worked with the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson and the White Stripes, among others. El Blok is his first hotel.
The guests-only rooftop and pool is the best location for watching the sunset before heading down to the beach party atmosphere of the town’s main street, “The Malecon”. Added touches such as vintage-designed vending machines serving freshly made snacks, Bloody Mary mixes, and other products prepared by Chef Enrique, the casual breakfasts, Aesop amenities, and free WiFi contribute to a distinctive city-by-the beach environment, perfect for intrepid travelers looking to define their own unique experience on this strange jewel of an island amongst the beauty and understated glamour of the Caribbean.
For more info: Elblok.com