Thursday, October 15, 2009

This Little Pig Went to Cuba: El Conchinito

A recent trip to Southern Florida accompanied by some heart-stopping pig put me in the mood for some good Cuban roast pork or lechon. Cuban isn't a real strength of Southern California, and I've never been a huge fan of the much loved Versailles, especially their pork. For a while I've been eyeing the popular (porkular?) El Conchinito on Sunset in Silverlake, so I thought I'd finally give it a try.

The only thing I can say to sum up is that El Conchinito (literally, the little pig) is a flavor explosion. The lechon, roasted with huge amounts of garlic, is crispy and juicy and fatty and wonderful in every way. It may be a bit too greasy, certainly moreso than the Florida lechon I had, but if you get the sandwich (pan con lechon), which is really just the pork on bread, the grease is absorbed into the bread creating a wondrous porky, garlic bread.

The fried yuca is also excellent, consisting of perfectly fried yuca pieces (underfrying of yuca is a common crime) topped with another dollop of fiery garlic sauce. This is the burger and fries of cuba and Conchinito does it proud.

The Sandwich Cubano, a traditional Cuban sandwich of roast pork, ham, pickles and mustard, was good, but I would have liked to see more roast pork and more pickles on it. Lechon is definitely the thing to get here.


El Conchinito
3508 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 668-0737

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