La Esquina del Lechon
Bread and Chicharron Basket
Quesadilla a su Gusto – Chicken, Monterrey Cheese, Guacamole, Sour Cream
El Famoso pan con Lechon – Slow Roasted Pork, Tropical House Sauce on Cuban Bread with Sauteed Onion, Crushed Pork Rinds
Sandwich “Especial” Cubano – Ham, Turkey, Roast Pork, Swiss, Pickles, Mustard, Mayonnaise
Café con Leche
Tres Leches Cake
Rice Pudding
Progressing north from Lucali for a slightly more downscale finish to four nights of eating in Miami it was just prior to 8:30pm that our trio entered La Esquina del Lechon and although the kitchen was due to close at nine o’clock no less than a half-dozen parties would follow, the dining room nearly half full when the friendly front of house staff began turning folks away, instead focusing on proving a truly excellent experience to those fortunate enough to already be eating some of the best roast pork I’ve been fortunate enough to taste.
Every bit an off-the-map space, all the way up in Doral, with most options featuring roast meats and items spanning from Cuba to Latin America as a décor heavy with pigs smiles from around the room it was mere moments after taking a seat that menus were presented and before an order was even placed water was filled and a bread basket loaded with warm rolls and crispy pork rinds arrived, the later a generous portion of greaseless fried nuggets that were delicious on their own but all the better with La Esquina’s Mango Hot Sauce drizzled on top.
Eventually making tough decisions given limited stomach capacity despite a menu from which nearly every plate sounded quite good it was a mere fifteen minutes after placing our orders that a trio of plates arrived, the quesadillas chock-a-block full of smoky chicken and cheese with creamy avocado in a sidecar while a duo of ‘small’ sandwiches proved to be anything but, the toasty housemade bread lightly sweet around a trio of meats and melted Swiss for the Cubano while the signature pan con Lechon was an umami-laden masterpiece of tender roast pork juxtaposing caramelized onions and crispy pork skin with sweet notes of citrus perfuming the palate with each bite.
At this point happily sated but unable and unwilling to pass on a case of desserts from which I only wish I could have sampled more it was alongside a creamy refresher of Café con Leche that sweets were enjoyed and although the stick-a-spoon-up-straight rice pudding was reference standard stuff with cinnamon added to taste the Tres Leches was undoubtedly the best I’ve tasted to date, each saturated bite of buttercake impressively rich beneath heavy cream frosting as a pool of condensed milk added additional sweetness at the bottom of the plate.
http://esquinalechon.com/
