The Mission

I’m on a quest to help us uncover together the next cool and often-overlooked restaurant, food truck, and roadside stand in Real Puerto Rico, and I’ll tell the stories at least weekly of the people behind the scenes who make it all happen.

It is important to emphasize that my writers and myself accept no freebies from anyone we write about. We are as pure as an unspoiled Vieques beach.

An ex-pat living in Puerto Rico, I don’t pretend to know more about the Enchanted Island than real Puerto Ricans born or raised here, and I’ll rely on them and others for tips as I and my fellow scribes crowdsource things to do, and places to see.

About Me

I’ve been visiting Puerto Rico since the 1980s and I now live on the island. I’m a veteran journalist writing about the travel industry. I’m founding editor of travel news and research business Skift, have written a couple of oral histories of online travel, including this one, and am a former USA Today columnist.

I was a restaurant assistant manager — only hired through nepotism — at Southern Funk Cafe in Manhattan on W. 42nd St. I also drove a yellow cab.

One of my favorite poems ever is Pedro Pietri’s Puerto Rican Obituary.

Before he was rightfully booted out of office, I interviewed then-Governor Ricardo Rosselló on the first anniversary of Hurricane Maria. Don’t blame me for his transgressions.

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Real Puerto Rico by Dennis Schaal. A newsletter about discovering overlooked restaurants, food trucks, and Puerto Rico destinations, and the people who make them happen.

People

Puerto Rico resident. Travel journalist. Ex-USA Today online travel columnist. Skift Founding Editor. Storyteller. Searching for the next unique experience.