Mio Brings Authentic Puerto Rican Cuisine to DC

Manuel Iguina, owner of Puerto Rican hotspot Mio, never intended to make his mark as a Latin American restaurateur on the Washington D.C. food scene. But, like most things in his life, he just stumbled upon it.

Born into a family of doctors, a career in food was the last place Iguina intended to end up. But a job beginning in the late 1980s working for renowned chef Jose Andres and the restaurant empire he created paved the way.

A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Iguina moved to the Washington region in 1981. One of his first jobs was in the kitchen at Georgetown Italian mainstay Filomena Ristorante. For Jose Andres, Iguina was the general manager of Café Atlántico and he helped open Jaleo and Zaytinya in Washington, D.C., among other restaurants.

So with a solid resume and years of experience, Iguina took the plunge. In 2007 he opened his own venture, Mio, which means "mine." Iguina describes the restaurant as an eclectic mix of Latin American cooking. “I saw an opening, an opportunity to do something relevant. So I grabbed it,” he said over a recent dinner at Mio.

But since Iguina wanted to stay true to his roots, he wanted his restaurant to have a Puerto Rican focus – not easy to do in a city struggling to offer authentic Latin American fare. Iguana was bent on giving his patrons an enjoyable and unique experience of Puerto Rico.

“Mio, meaning making your own house, is like the embassy of Puerto Rico,” he said.

And nothing says embassy like the restaurant’s well-known Friday night Puerto Rican feast, featuring a whole, mouth-watering suckling pig slowly roasted on site.

To that end, the chef, Giovanna Huyke, hails from San Juan and has been called the “Julia Child of Puerto Rico.” She has authored six cookbooks and been a television personality for more than 25 years. Tom Sietsema, food critic of the Washington Post, once wrote, “Huyke’s arrival is terrific news on multiple fronts. Washington’s boy-heavy chef’s club could use a female touch. And once you’ve had a taste of Huyke’s cooking, you’ll wonder why Puerto Rican food doesn’t have more of a presence here.”

The menu includes cheesy arepas, smoky octopus, and an island spin on lasagna, called pastelon, that pairs ground veal with plantains. And, if you have never heard of mofongo, a Puerto Rican fried plantain dish, that is reason enough to venture into Mio.

Next, celebrity chefs stop by Mio… [pagebreak]

Iguina has created a guest chef series where he periodically brings in accomplished chefs to create special menus. For 2014, Puerto Rican chefs Roberto Hernandez, who once ran the kitchen at Maralago in Palm Beach, Fla., and Wilo Benet, owner of the award-winning Pikayo restaurant in San Juan, will periodically visit Mio.  

“Mio is a great platform to bring Puerto Rican gastronomy to a new level," Hernandez said. "I am fortunate to be invited and work with the team here."

Iguina also takes the concept “local” to heart. He travels to Puerto Rico several times each year scouting out local ingredients and products to bring back to the restaurant. Mio also serves it’s own premium blend of 100% Arabica sundried coffee grown exclusively for the restaurant on La Perla, a 60-acre farm in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico

Iguina, 52, runs the restaurant with the help of his wife, Karla, a former travel and marketing executive. Together they have two young children. He also enlists the help of a daughter from his first marriage, Francisca, who is the special events coordinator. And while the restaurant may be family run, Iguina is not adverse to his restaurant becoming a meeting point for, what else, but D.C. politics. In this town, it makes sense that a downtown restaurant would attract Latino politicians, students, and teachers in the hip and trendy atmosphere.

The summer may pick up for Mio as it is a great place to watch the World Cup with big screen televisions flanking the bar walls. Food and soccer may be enough to draw in local Latinos as well as foodies looking for down home authentic Puerto Rican cooking. And for that, Iguina is grateful that he created Mio.

“I love it. I’d do it all over again,” he said.