Chicharrón at El Palacio de los Jugos

By Gabriela Garcia 

Miami New Times

Does chicharrón count as a dish? It should, because this experience has never happened to me anywhere in Miami but at El Palacio de Los Jugos: I bite into a hot, chopped-before-my-eyes slab of crisp pork skin and think damn, this tastes exactly like that time on the side of the road in Soroa eating fat chunks of chicharrón with a bunch of guajiros who used palm leaves to dab mojo all over a lechon fresh out the pit. In my eyes, anything that triggers that kind of crazy nostalgia deserves to be on some kind of list.
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​So if you're wondering what on-the-side-of-the-road chicharrón tastes like, sidle up to one of Palacio's many counters, point to the pieces with the least globs of fat and the juiciest morsels of meat clinging to a layer of crackly, bubbly skin, and shamefully walk out with a grease-soaked paper bag full of bite-sized pieces that cost $9.99 a pound. Never mind if you've got a refrigerator full of fresh, organic greens and heart-healthy grape seed oil vinaigrette waiting for you at home. There's always tomorrow to get started on that pork fat-free diet.