La Dinastia

We would travel great distances and transfer trains at least three times for the boneless crackling chicken at La Dinastia, a Chino Latino spot that’s been open since 1986. These chicharrones de pollo are light and crispy, served with a lemon for squeezing, and best dipped in the secret tangy green sauce, which is one of those secrets that everybody knows about. This casual dining room is full of Upper West Siders who have been eating fried pork chops here since before you were born, and a few people who saw this place on social media and have since fallen hard for the chicken. There are large booths, old framed pictures of celebrity visitors, and rum-based nutcrackers, which quite literally go down like water.