Tag Archives: chicharrones

Latin/Mexican & Caribbean, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Bang Bang Mexican Puerto Rican

July 14, 2024 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, watch my Ride & Review HERE:

I’ve been meaning to try the tacos at Tacos Ramirez for a while, but when I heard they just opened up a carnitas joint here in the LES, I jumped at the opportunity. At the same time, I knew there was a Dominican/Puerto Rican/Cuban spot around the corner, so I let myself get super hungry so I could hit them both one after the other, bang-bang style!

The tacos were incredible. I had cabeza (head), ear, and mixed. All were excellent, but I think mixed had to be my favorite. WHen I go back, I want to try tongue and snout. They were a little small, but at $5ea they are worth every penny.

El Rinconcito is a hispanic food joint on Avenue C and 5th Street that I’ve passed by a bunch of times and never stopped in. It’s a small joint, very nicely appointed and with super friendly staff. I tried the chicharrones and the cubano, and both were the best renditions of the dishes that I’ve had in the area. The cuban sandwich was packed with juicy meat, it had great cheese melt, layers of tasty pickles and ham, and it was topped with crunchy, crackling pork skin. Perfect… and huge for just $10.

The chicharrones were juicy and also had lots of crispy skin bits all over. Also a steal at $15.

I can’t wait to go back and try more shit!

CARNITAS RAMIREZ
210 E 3rd Street
New York, NY 10009

EL RINCONCITO
75 Avenue C
New York, NY 10009

Latin/Mexican & Caribbean, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Cibao

May 21, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

This joint dates back to 1958, when it was called La Lechonera. In 1978 it became Cibao, and it remains a neighborhood icon to this day.

I’ve walked by it many times, and always wanted to try it. There are a lot of great Hispanic and Latin American food places nearby, like Castillo de Jagua (I and II), Casa Adela, and Castillo de Manhattan. I’ve tried all of those, and now I’ve finally made it to Cibao for some grub.

Everything was tasty. Here’s what we tried:

First up was the Cuban sandwich. So crisp and tasty. Great ratio of meat to mayo to pickles to cheese. This is a win, especially at just $9.

Next, the bone-in chicken chicharrones. The only way to get them! Juicy inside, golden brown outside and with very flavorful, super crispy skin. Perfect! I want to order the larger format fried chicken items next time to see how they compare.

The Pernil was a little dry, but overall still really tasty. Best for sandwiches that have cheese, pickles and mayo, to juicy it up a little bit. Or maybe they could serve this with a little cup of the roasting juices/drippings.

The sides were good too. We tried the green plantains, yellow rice and beans. Platano power!

We washed it all down with some delicious Morir Sonando (orange juice and milk drink).

I will definitely be back here again for the fried chicken and mofongo, and I’ll likely order it for delivery as well. The Sancocho is only offered on specific days, so I’ll definitely have to go for that.

CIBAO
72 Clinton St
New York, NY 10002

East Village, Latin/Mexican & Caribbean, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Casa Adela

February 22, 2023 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Casa Adela is a local Alphabet City Puerto Rican joint that serves up some really delicious and wallet-friendly food.

It’s been recommended to me by several people, and my wife and I finally made it over to try it out. Here’s a quick Ride & Review video of the experience:

We started with the chicken chicharrones, which were AWESOME, especially with that West Indian scotch bonnet and papaya hot sauce.

Next up was the oxtail stew. This was really flavorful, and the oxtail itself was incredibly tender without being dried out. It was legitimately perfect.

The pernil was juicy as well, with a nice strip of crispy, sticky, fatty skin on top. Amazing! That was my favorite bite of the meal, with the oxtail just behind it.

This, too, went nicely with the hot sauce.

Lastly, we had a half roast chicken. The same red spice used on the fried chicken skin is also used on the roasted skin. Whatever it is, it’s beautiful and delicious.

This place is cash only and they do not offer delivery, so I think I’ll be making many more trips here with the bike to pick up food in the future.

CASA ADELA
66 Avenue C
New York, NY 10009

Press Reviews, Product Reviews

Chick n Skins

February 3, 2021 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

These snacks are amazing!

My wife and I have been crisping up our chicken skin into chips like this for years, ever since we found some chicken skin bag snacks in Hawaii a while back that we liked. But that brand went stale and took on a weird taste very fast. We had to throw a bunch away, unfortunately. Ultimately they were just too greasy and not packaged well.

This product, however, is a different story.

Each bag has a salt packet inside to absorb excess moisture and prevent spoilage or overly greasy “discharge.” They also seem less fatty or fried than the other brands we have tried, and less aggressive with the salt content. Also, great flavor variety! I highly recommend this snack.

Product Reviews

Golden Flake Chicharrones

January 6, 2018 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I tried these pork rinds when we were in New Orleans. My snack obsession was satisfied with these delicious chicharrones that were flavored with Louisiana hot sauce.

I can eat pork skins all day, and I definitely recommend these if you come across them.

Product Reviews

Elena’s Original Lapid

October 16, 2015 Johnny Prime 9 Comments

We hit a few local grocery stores and picked up some fantastic looking pork rinds and chicken skin chicharones. Look at the quality! These are dense, crispy and really flavorful.

This is real deal skin and fat that’s been fried crisp, not like some products that are essentially flavored corn crisps or some other bullshit. I will be stocking up on these things big time.

American, Banh Mi, Burgers, Hawaii, Restaurant Reviews

Cow Pig Bun

October 16, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Cow Pig Bun

What a fucking weird location for a reataurant. I can understand the brewery being there, as this area is an office park or business park. I suppose people hit this joint for lunch while they’re at work nearby.

The place is like something out of Williamsburg Brooklyn. The decor is corrugated metal, reclaimed wood, filament bulb lighting and industrial meat facility chic.

The food is great. It’s a small menu, essentially a burger joint with fancy apps and lots of different whiskey and bourbon to sample.

We tried a flight of flavored whiskey – one was just a blend, then coconut, chocolate macadamia nut, and coffee flavored whiskeys followed. Macadamia nut was my favorite. Sweet and strong.

We also sampled some of their mixology style cocktails. My wife had an awesome tequila and pho broth based drink, called “Cannibalistic,” and I had a pineapple, lime and Maker’s called “Butcher Town.” Good shit.

I ordered the bacon jam burger. This was a potent and powerful burger. The blue cheese didn’t overpower the meat, nor did the bacon, but altogether it was super heavy. I liked it, but I could only put down half (I ate the rest a few days later).

My wife had a poorly worded sandwich that was called banh mi, but was really more like a pulled pork sandwich. It had pork belly, pulled pork and really nice fois gras butter, but none of the pickled veggies, fish sauce or fresh leafy cilantro that you usually associate with the banh mi flavor profile. In short, it was still good, but not banh mi.

Along with the drinks, I think the best part of this place is the pork rind chicharones that come with each entree instead of French fries. These morsels were real pig skin fried up to warm, golden, crispy goodness. Amazing.

Product Reviews

4505 Chicharrones

September 18, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife received a box of these fuckers as a gift from her cousin. These guys are pretty good. They have a lightly sweet and slightly spicy seasoning to them. They’re very airy and crisp, and really shine when you add some lime juice to them. Good product.

Bronx, Latin/Mexican & Caribbean, Restaurant Reviews

188 Cuchifritos

October 19, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Cuchifritos Frituras, aka 188 Bakery Cuchifritos, was recently featured on Anthony Bourdain’s newest CNN food show, and then written up on Grub Street as a result.

Yanked directly from Wiki with no shame whatsoever:

“In New York City, vendors advertising cuchifritos are particularly notable because they tend to make use of colorful external lighting and big, flashy signs that quickly catch the eyes of passersby. These establishments have dotted Puerto Rican and Dominican areas of New York City for the past 50 years, particularly Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, South Bronx, Brooklyn, and other primarily Puerto Rican and Dominican neighborhoods.”

After seeing that it was pretty much meat heaven, I decided that I needed to go and try this shit out ASAP. Check out the wall o’ Dominican cuisine:

something tells me they didn't brother to secure the license to use Porky Pig in their signage... unless he's public domain now — something tells me they didn’t brother to secure the license to use Porky Pig in their signage… unless he’s public domain now

Not knowing what any of it meant, we pretty much just followed the Grub Street outline but made sure to get some of the nasty bits as well. My wife and I were pretty much shot from walking around all day, two stops away up in the Bronx, at a Japanese exhibit at the New York Botanical Gardens. I was also wiped out because the day before I had run a half marathon and then proceeded to walk around for about 20 miles to and from Gotham West Market and for several hours at the NYC Wine & Food Festival.

Needless to say, we stopped in after the park and picked up a sack of food to go – we were anxious to get home, and it was hot, stuffy and crowded in that bustling little pig joint.

But holy shit, were we happy when we got home…

I’m getting right at the titties here – the chicharrones. We ordered both pork and chicken. There’s LOTS of meat on these babies, and the skin is perfectly fried to crisp deliciousness. The portions are rather big too for $6.

We also grabbed some alcapurrias – sweet, tangy pouch stuffed with meat and spices. These were incredibly tasty. I almost forgot to take a pic of the inside before destroying it.

Last, the cuchifritos nasty bits. Blood sausage, pig ears, tail, tongue, skin… you name it… plus plantains. My wife likes this kind of offal shit more than I do usually, but I DO get down on it sometimes, especially if it’s done right. Here, they offer a gravy to go with it, but we opted for no gravy – as if we are watching our diet when eating this stuff! Haha!