New York Times: Last-Minute Winter Getaways (Pikayo)

“Or drop your bags in Condado, at the newly mod Conrad San Juan Condado Plaza (866-317-8934; condadoplaza.com). Rooms start at $199, and through March 31 guests booking the Winter Escapes Package for a two-night stay get breakfast for two, plus a $50 resort credit. It can go toward a meal at the homegrown celebrity chef Wilo Benet’s Pikayo, which recently relocated to the hotel and has been luring diners to its communal table for lobster empanadas and bay scallop ceviche.”

Read the full article at  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/travel/28getaways.html

Video: Behind the Scenes at Travel Channel

Behind the scenes of

Travel Channel’s Endurance Travelers show

in Puerto Rico at Picayo Restaurant

Puerto Rico’s new cuisine will have you at “hola”

For reviewer-praised, upscale San Juan dining, follow the foodies to Pikayo, a modern masterpiece in the Conrad San Juan Condado Plaza. Chef Wilo Benet invokes his Culinary Institute of America degree, his keep photographer’s eye and his inventor’s urge to mastermind dazzling, delectable dishes.

We’re talking empanadilla turnovers with truffle mojito sauce, risotto with chicharron (pork cracklings), and a saffron-dusted update of the beloved local dish, mofongo, more or less a Puerto Rican matzoh ball made from green plantains and pork. Benet tops his mofongo with a fat shrimp and lavishes it with saffron broth. (Varita, Benet’s other eatery in the hotel, serves more traditional Puerto Rican dishes.) Abrir nota completa

A Caribbean feast for ‘locavores’

There’s something in the human soul that loves just about anything deep-fried. So, despite concerns about my girth, I couldn’t resist the sizzling tostones (plantain chips) served at Paya–loosely translated, the name means “go there” — a casual restaurant in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. I wasn’t sure about the dip, though. “It’s made of corned-beef hash,” said our host, celebrity chef Wilo Benet. Yes, that’s the processed stuff that comes in a tin. Abrir nota completa

Top Chef Masters Benefit Dinner at Pikayo

The following pictures were taken during the Top Chef Masters Dinner at Pikayo.  Chef Wilo Benet hosted chefs Rick Bayless,Cindy Pawlcyn and Ludo Lefebvre to benefit the San Jorge Childrens Hospital.

Additional coverage from Magacin (El Nuevo Dia, January 3rd, 2010). (PDF)

About.com: Pikayo = Puerto Rico’s Best

Zain Deane, About.com Guide to Puerto Rico Travel, selects Pikayo as Puerto Rico’s best restaurant.

The food and the ambience at Pikayo are both original and transporting, and it is also the only restaurant (along with Chef Wilo’s two other eateries in San Juan) where you can get Chef Wilo’s signature wine.

To read the full article click here

Thanks Zain!

Wilo Benet se une a los maestros

En junte culinario y benéfico para el San Jorge Children’s Foundation

Por Cristina Fernández / www.sal.pr / http://www.elnuevodia.com/wilo_benet_se_une_a_los_maestros-636774.html

En la más reciente edición del programa ‘Top Chef Masters’ de la cadena Bravo, todo apuntaba a que el chef Wilo Benet tenía una gran rivalidad con sus compañeros de competencia, pero la realidad es que el experto encontró grandes amigos que ahora están dispuestos a ayudarle.

Este próximo 7 de diciembre, los súper famosos chefs Ludo Lefebvre, Cindy Pawlcyn y Rick Bayless, ganador de Top Chefs Masters 2009, dejarán sus ocupadas cocinas para viajar a Puerto Rico y ayudar a Benet a recaudar fondos para el San Jorge Children’s Foundation. Abrir nota completa

Utilísima Arrives in the United States: Wilo on Schedule!

A New TV Programming Option for the Hispanic Woman

The 24-hour signal includes attractive programming based on the “how-to” concept, gathering talent from Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela

MIAMI–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Utilísima, the cable television signal created specially for women and enjoying great success throughout Latin America, arrives in the United States. With an audience that exceeds 21 million homes in Latin America, Utilísima offers 24 hours of programming, focusing on the feminine market. The signal is already available to Hispanic women in the United States since it has just been included among the DISH Network channels.

Utilísima gathers in one single signal all the topics of interest to Latina women, including original content with more than 1,000 hours of programming. The programs are hosted by well-known Latin American presenters and international talent from Argentina, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, and Cuba, with specialists from the entire continent to be added over the next few months. Abrir nota completa

Ganador de Top Chef Masters 2009 en Puerto Rico

GANADOR DE TOP CHEF MASTERS 2009 EN PUERTO RICO
INVITADO POR WILO BENET A EVENTO BENEFICO
PARA LA FUNDACION DE NIÑOS SAN JORGE

Contacto: María Elena Pérez (787) 725-0008
Iris Edén Santiago (939) 642-4442

San Juan, Puerto Rico – Rick Bayless, el conocido chef norteamericano y ganador de Top Chef Masters 2009 estará en Puerto Rico en diciembre invitado por Wilo Benet, para el singular evento gastronómico, “Chef’s Night Out,” a beneficio de la Fundación de Niños San Jorge. A la actividad en Pikayo el lunes, 7 de diciembre de 2009, también se unirán los chefs finalistas del reconocido reto culinario, Ludo Lefebvre y Cindy Pawlcyn.
“Para mí es un privilegio poder cooperar con causas como esta Fundación,” dijo Benet. “Cuando participé en Top Chef Masters este año, conocí a estos tres excelentes chefs y mejores seres humanos que inmediatamente aceptaron venir a San Juan para unirse a este evento benéfico.”

Esta sería la primera visita de los Chefs a Puerto Rico, informó Benet, cuya participación en Top Chefs Masters 2009, le valió un privilegiado lugar como finalista, y un premio en metálico de $3,000.00 que donó a la Fundación de Niños San Jorge.

“Estamos muy entusiasmados y agradecidos con la iniciativa de Wilo,” dijo por su parte Wanda I. Navajas, Presidenta de la Fundación de Niños San Jorge. “Hemos celebrado su trayectoria por muchos años, y ahora la nueva casa de Pikayo en el Condado Plaza – - Pero lo que más celebramos es su carácter humanitario, el lazo que ha formado con los niños de nuestra Fundación y su deseo genuino de ayudarnos para seguir protegiendo la salud de niños que tanto nos necesitan.”

Para “Chef’s Night Out” Benet y Bayless se unirán a Lefebvre y a Pawlcyn en un novedoso junte de las mentes, el corazón y la creatividad. Cada uno de los cuatro Chefs varios platos, que serán pareados con exquisitos vinos de diferentes regiones. Los aperitivos, pasados y servidos, serán presentados, discutidos y disfrutados durante toda la velada. Los Chefs invitados compartirán con los invitados en el salón principal de Pikayo.
Abrir nota completa

Old Friends, New Flavors (SavorSA)

By John Griffin
Posted on 16 October 2009

Wilo Benet of Puerto Rico said he thought it would be whichever country or area had a signature dish that caught on. He cited the growing popularity of ceviche, which originated in Peru.

He would like his own country to make its mark, but he admitted that he’s still trying to figure out which dish would have capture the market’s fancy.

Read the full article on SavorSA