Elsa La Reina Del Chicharron
“The crispy mouth watering fried pork with a squeeze of lime and tostones may well become my new guilty pleasure of choice now that I live in Inwood.”
“Not a five though because the beans were missing in the first place and the tostones were too thick and not too fresh.”
“Bf and I were wondering in Inwood- an underrated neighborhood as far as Manhattan goes.”
Elsa La Reina Del Chicharron
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
7 reviews
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Bf and I were wondering in Inwood- an underrated neighborhood as far as Manhattan goes. As the nabe is pretty Latino influenced, we were happy to make a stop to Elsa to get some chicahrron lunch. Now, we have never had this dish, but we love fried pork so figured it must be good. This particular location is a small, small space with just bar seating. It is really made for to-go. We had the 10.99 special with two pieces of chicharron, and tostones and ate it in the park. Came with a side of lemon. Unfortunately, they neglected to tell me there was a yummy garlic aioli you could get with it- so the dish was a bit dry. But, the pork was great – the outside layer was basically pork rhine, followed by lots of fat, then some meat (some- a lil), and the drier/fried rib-y part next. The tostones were also a wee bit too dry and fried- I've had better but I love plantains so I'll never complain much.
They gave a good portion but it was really THAT cheap.. maybe the lunch specials were. My one complaint is that, that place is kind of chaos- everyone is loud, and you have to order kind of at gunpoint. The staff was accomodating but was impatient as I was TRYING to actually speak Spanish with them- and the customer behind me was even worse. She kept giving me dirty looks, and seemed frustrated that we were new and didn't really know how to order. Grrr. Not as friendly as I was expecting.
We wanted to try the roasted chicken but they didn't have anymore in the late afternoon when we came.
But, really, we probably won't go back as we're just not in Inwood ever- it's a beautiful place to explore though with all the parks, and, if you want some good ass fried pork, stop in this place. The mofongo looks good too.
Hands down the best place to get chicharrones (deep fried pork). The skin is crispy and mouth watering tastey. When you walk by or pass the corner while on the bus, you always get the incredible aroma of Elsa's Chicharrones.
It is pretty much a take out place, although they have a few seats along the wall, but the place is so crowded by the lines that it's not worth eating there. They offer other dishes like chicken, pernil, rice and beans, mofongo, mangu, etc. The chicharrones and the mofongos (mashed plantains with chicharrones inside) are the best, and a once weekly for me. Mofongos take about 25 minutes to make, and they do deliver as long as it's before 7ish. They also make fresh juices like passion fruit (parcha to them) and things like empanadas.
Pros – fresh daily
Cons – long lines, you need to speak spanish here, cash only
The chicharrones are like…burnt. And the plantains are not crispy. And the server doesn't speak English. Some parts are too fatty to eat and others are too burnt to eat. And other parts are bones. That being said, the occasional perfect bite is delicious.
Definitely not the best thing for you cholesterol, but man ! That's some good fried Pork.
This is a no frills, blaring merengue music, tiny and crowded spot where you get your fried pork on !
Fried Pork is the main meal but definitely try the fried Longaniza (sausage) and fried Sweet Potato slices.
Also on the down low, they're Mofongo is much better (and cheaper) than other "famed" Mofongo places in the area.
Excellent! This place is tiny with a few counter seats. It seemed everyone who came in spoke Spanish and ordered the fried pork with rice. It seems to be priced per weight. We ordered a chicharrones sandwich and it was fantastic. It took longer than the simple pork and rice dishes, but we were happy for the wait. I love these places as the food is just authentic and the staff are simply down to earth.
My Chicharron was extremely salty and hard and crispy all the way through. It could be because I went a little later at night (8pm), but good chicharron should be crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. Mine was hard on the inside, like it had been fried for way too long, and super super salty. I will have to go back to see if I can have a better experience, because the chicharron in the yelp pictures looks much better than the chicharron I was served.
This was my first trip to Inwood and like a true yelpy I immediately turned to yelp to look for some yummy places to explore. Two things popped into my mind: 1. monfongo and 2. chicharrones. Elsa was one of the first restaurants to pop up and I immediately got sold on the photos of chicharrones. That crispy fried skin and juicy fatty pork looked so darn delicious, it was all I could think about eating for the entire day.
When we arrived there was a line out the door waiting to order. Fantastic, a line means demand, and demand means it must be good. I lucked out because I had sent friends to this place ahead of me and they were right in the front of the line to order. We got a half $5 order of fried pork and monfongo with red sauce. Both were excellent! Mmmm, I'm still thinking of that mofongo!
I think you could probably share a mofongo with 4 people. The hubby and I barely got through half of it and another couple we were with only ate half of their monfongo too. Perhaps this place is not the best place to go eat right before you're going to a party to dance the night away. It's good but really really heavy. I felt like I had a brick of fried plantains sitting in my stomach which acted as a paperweight because it was hard for me to dance around.
It was totally worth it though. I want to come back and order a ton of those chicharrones! I wonder how they would taste if I froze them and heated them up in a toaster over? I guess I shall soon find out in due time!