Eric Asimov
...La Fonda is now a spacious place with exposed brick walls, plants and comfortable seating for 75. The walls are filled with paintings, from artists like Fernando Salicrup, Marcos Dimas, and Jose Morales.
...While that is enough to draw you in, the food makes you want to stay, like a mellow octopus salad, in which tender pieces of meat are mixed with cubed peppers and onions, cilantro and a lightly peppery vinaigrette. Chicharrones of pork is another such dish -- chunks of pork, each with a crisp layer of skin, a glistening line of fat over tender meat. Each bite is superbly flavorful and incredibly rich. Chicharrones of chicken is Caribbean fried chicken, crisp and greaseless, with each piece seemingly offering its own flavor.
Pork dishes include roast port shoulder, full of garlic and pepper with pieces of crisp skin tossed in and chewy, satisfying baked pork chops smothered in onions. Steak, marinated in tangy citrus juice and pounded thin, is remarkably tender and also comes covered in onions. Arroz con pollo, classic Puerto Rican dish of flavorful, slightly smoky chicken surrounded by yellow rice, is also satisfying...
...The service is extremely friendly, but if you need something chances are you'll have to get up from your table and find somebody to get it for you. Come to think about it, it's sounding more like home all the time.
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