LA EMPANADA LOCA – Restaurant

Puerto Rican cooking on North Dixie Highway, run like a family kitchen rather than a counter operation. The empanadas give the place its name and its queue, but the fuller plates are where regulars settle in: mofongo and trifongo, pasteles, roast pork in mojo, fried pork chunks that arrive still crackling, with arroz con gandules alongside. It opens late morning, runs late on weekends and closes early on Sunday, doing a brisk takeout trade throughout. Order the empanada. Then order the pernil anyway. Island cooking, no ceremony.

Cuisine: Restaurant