Best Mofongo - 2011
Old San Juan Restaurant 1200 SW 57th Ave. West Miami 305 263-9911
In the mainland United
States, we have baseball, apple pie, and mom. Substitute mofongo for apple pie and you have a fairly good working list of
priorities in Puerto Rico. The Boricua specialty — a heaping mound of mashed fried green plantains studded with crisp
pork cracklings — has many incarnations across the island: drenched in tomato sauce, loaded with garlic and onions,
or topped with chicken or beef, lobster, or shrimp. Luckily for Miami, mainstay Puerto Rican eatery Old San Juan has just
about every variation on the menu. The mofongo con pollo brings a garlicky grilled strip of chicken topped with caramelized
onions next to the soft mound of mofongo; order the pulpo and you'll get tender tendrils of octopus with your fried plantains,
or the shrimp for a pile of buttery crustaceans on the side. Old San Juan serves its mofongo with a traditional cup of chicken
broth for sipping and dipping. Bring a friend — the portions are huge, so even though you're sampling mofongo in the
States, there's no way you'll have room for apple pie afterward.
