Oakville Dinner at Pikayo ~ March 5th, 2011

The Oakville Ranch & Barbour Vineyards Winemaker Dinner
Saturday, March 5th, 2011 – 7:30 PM – Pikayo Restaurant

Jim Barbour, Owner of Barbour Vineyards

Paula Kornell, General Manager of Oakville Ranch
Chef Wilo Benet, Pikayo Restaurant

Pikayo & Varita at American Airlines upscale magazine

This is the American Airlines’ upscale magazine.  Puerto Rico, Pikayo, Conrad Condado Plaza and San Juan, all mentioned! To read the complete article click here

It’s one-stop dining for a pair of new restaurants from the island’s top celebrity chef, Wilo Benet, at the newly updated Conrad San Juan Condado Plaza. Designer David Rockwell’s firm gave the 570-room mid-century modern hotel a renovation a couple of years ago, resulting in a whitewashed lobby with circular pink banquettes and globe light fixtures. Last year, Benet moved his flagship fine dining restaurant, Pikayo, into the hotel and later opened the new rotisserie-focused Varita for casual, hearty fare in a street-level room splashed with colorful paintings and neon-washed photographs by the chef-turned-artist.

Novedades en la Mesa

Wilo Benet’s Dobleú Wine hits stores

Spice of Life

Celebrity chef Wilo Benet is bringing Puerto Rican cuisine to the forefront

— Elaine Glusac / Continental Airlines inflight magazine

Wilo Benet put Puerto Rican cuisine — which he describes as “rustic, double-starched, and full of flavor” — on the modern culinary map. With a cookbook, his own cooking show, an appearance on Bravo TV’s Top Chef Masters, and three San Juan restaurants, he’s the island’s top culinary export. So it’s a surprise to hear him claim his career was an accident. “My entire life I’ve been following instructions,” he laughs. What he really means is listening — to customers and anyone with good ideas — and working very hard.

Read the complete article here

Wilo Benet’s Dobleú Arrives at Costco Puerto Rico

Riojan Tempranillo 100%

Wilo Benet’s DOBLEÚ has arrived to Costco, Puerto Rico – Los Filtros store! 100% Tempranillo grape! The acclaimed wine critic, Robert Parker, in the Wine Advocate edition 2009, described it as Best Buy and gave it a whopping 87 points. The production of this wine is limited – take advantage!  It will be available beginning tomorrow at Costco but can be purchased in any of Benet’s restaurants:  Pikayo and Varita, located at the Conrad Condado Plaza or at Paya, at City View Plaza in Guaynabo.  For more information please call 787-751-1124.

HARVEST

The grapes at the selected vineyards attained their optimum ripeness around mid October 2006.

VINIFICATION
At the bodega’s sorting table only the best clusters were chosen; those with perfect berries, to ferment them in oak vats at controlled temperatures. The wine was aged for 14 months in new French and American oak casks then complete the ageing process in underground bottle racks for a further 2 months.

TASTING NOTE

This wine has an intense dark garnet-red color with a purple rim.  On the nose its impressive fresh red berries aromas of ripen cherries and plums develop to the range of candied fruit. It is compact on the palate and reveals smoked notes of mineral and liquorice. Its solid tannins hold the fruit and give structure that is well kept for an extended time.

Wilo Hosts Own TV Show at Fox Latino

SABORES DE ENSUEÑO con Wilo Benet”

SAN JUAN, PR (May 24, 2010)– Foodies Rejoice! Tuesday, June 1 at 8:30m will be the premier of the renowned chef Wilo Benet’s new TV Show dubbed “SABORES DE ENSUEÑO con Wilo Benet”, in Utilísima Channel FOX Latino. The show is based on recipes of his best-seller “Puerto Rico True Flavors”. With an audience of 11 million people from Mexico to Argentina, including the United States, the show can be viewed in Puerto Rico in Onelink (Channel 171), on Direct TV (Channel 234) and in Dish TV.

Late last year Benet flew to Buenos Aires, where the Utilísima studios are located, and filmed 14 programs where he masterfully prepares 2 recipes in 25 minutes for each program for the TV audiences to enjoy. “The program is designed for housewives and cooking enthusiasts that want to learn how to cook delicious, easy, fast and low budget recipes,” commented the talented chef. “My goal is to take a little piece of Puerto Rico and sprinkle it around the world, with a lot of pride!” he concluded.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

“SABORES DE ENSUEÑO con Wilo Benet” does not only revolve around the kitchen world… Benet’s passions found a place to merge perfectly: Gastronomy, Photography and Music. “I wanted to showcase, via my photography, art pieces of Gastronomic Impressionism, which I built based on the ingredients of each recipe,” Benet expressed.

Amongst the typical Puerto Rican recipes Benet skillfully showed how to prepare are Tostones, Arañitas, Mofongo de Plátano, Mofongo de Yuca, Asopao de Pollo, Piñón, Carne Frita, Fricasé de Pollo, Chillo Frito, Serenata de Bacalao, Arroz con Pollo and Arroz con Longaniza.

SCHEDULE

The first show will air on Tuesday, June 1 at 8:30am and a program will premiere for the following 13 weeks.

Weekly repetitions:

MONDAY

• 2:30 AM

TUESDAY

• 8:30 AM
• 2:30 PM
• 1:30 AM
• 7:30 AM

WEDNESDAY

• 1:30 PM
• 7:30 PM
• 2:30 AM

THURSDAY

• 8:30 AM
• 2:30 PM
• 10:30 PM

FRIDAY

• 3:30 AM

SATURDAY

• 11:30 AM
• 10:00 PM

SUNDAY

• 10:00 AM
• 5:30 PM

Wilo Benet is the chef and owner of Pikayo, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Payá and Varita. In May 2009, Benet stepped into the wine world with his DOBLEÚ wine, 100% Tempranillo grapes. In 2007, he launched his cookbook, “Puerto Rico True Flavors”, offering more than 100 recipes, complimented by exceptional photography, inviting readers to follow his culinary journey. This best-seller was followed by his translation in Spanish, “Puerto Rico Sabor Criollo”.

New Roast Beef Menu at Varita

Varita Roast Beef Menu

Varita Roast Beef Menu

Manjares Magazine

Clippings from Manjares Magazine, March 2010

Manjares Magazine

Abrir nota completa

El Nuevo Día: Cocina en dos pasos

02 Mayo 2010

Con eso en mente, Wilo Benet diseña un espacio y lo estrena con chocolate. Mira los vídeos

Por Eileen Rivera Esquilín / erivera1@elnuevodia.com

http://www.elnuevodia.com/cocinaendospasos-696158.html

Cuando estudió cocina aprendió la importancia de que el flujo de trabajo no se interrumpiera. Que su diseño permitiera que pudieras poner la compra en un lugar cerca de la puerta, que de ahí pudieras guardarla en las diferentes áreas de ‘storage’, que haya mucho espacio de ‘counter’ y que la estufa, nevera y fregadero estuviesen ubicados formando un triángulo. Abrir nota completa