The Best Puerto Rican Restaurants in the Bronx

The OG of the Bronx’s Puerto Rican food scene has been feeding the borough, and more famously, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain on his show Parts Unknown, for decades. The namesake snacks at 188 Cuchifritos are fried to perfection here and include boneless chicken pieces, pork rinds, and more.

A rare five-star Yelp rating and endorsements from food authorities like First We Feast will peak any eater’s interest in Lechonera La Piraña. Even more intriguing than the eatery itself (the lechonera is a casual food truck run by owner and chef Angel “Piraña” Jiminez for over a decade) is the Puerto Rican-style lechon it serves—roasted pork with homemade seasonings, fresh seafood salad, and stuffed pastelillos.

The name Made in Puerto Rico refers as much to the restaurant’s founders as to its food, which includes all of the island’s traditional recipes. Being the Bronx, however, Made in Puerto Rico couldn’t resist putting its own spin on the cuisine with signature dishes like the Paella Puerto Rico and surf and turf mofongo.

With an emphasis on tradition, La Cocina Boricua invites Bronx eaters to “enjoy grandma’s cooking away from home.” Tastes of the homeland come in many forms here, including piononos, alcapurrias, mofongo, and arroz con pollo. Go ahead and indulge—Abuela doesn’t need to find out.

Specializing in Chino-Latino cuisine, Sabrosura Restaurant offers a rarely seen yet deeply traditional category of island fare: Puerto Rican Chinese. Puerto Rico’s Chinese immigrants developed this culinary tradition, which Sabrosura’s patrons can experience through dishes like Island-style sweet and sour chicken and churrasco skirt steak with fried rice.

The travel-inspired cuisine at Travesias isn’t your average fusion fare. Here, the menu manages to maintain tradition (side dishes include everything from yucca fries to tostones to naan) while innovating with dishes like Chinese-style steam buns stuffed with Puerto Rican roasted pork and the chuleton de cerdo served with “untraditional” Cuban mojo.

It’s hard to choose a favorite dish at the Bronx’s El Nuevo Bohio Lechonera. The pork here is roasted and fried fresh each day before being transformed into dishes like pork mofongo, while less ubiquitous plates of Puerto Rican-style blood sausage and steak in boricua style deserve diners’ attention as well. Luckily, affordable prices make it easy to try the whole menu—wash whatever you get down with the lechonera’s natural tamarind juice.