El Lechon de Negron

PUERTO RICO 🇵🇷

The Negron family has owned, operated, and drove a truck around New Jersey since 2012 offering the finest in porky Puerto Rican cuisine. If that has proved too hard to catch, a small strip mall in Union is now home to a fixed location and already seems like a hit.

There are only four tables, but the shop is doing a brisk business of mostly takeout orders, some of which are massive. It appears that every office in the area is sending their intern to pick up a bunch of food.

If you are eating in, walk to the back and place your order, take a seat, and fill up some small containers with your desired sauces. Most everyone around is speaking the very New York and New Jersey version of Puerto Rican Spanish, the best sign of the meal to come. Even though the place is constantly busy, everyone is very nice, and the music is excellent. The small restaurant is designed well, with clean modern lines and colors. The menu is small and focused, they do what they have very well.

The pernil ($9.25, below) is the signature here. The pork is all shoulder, pulled, and with a buttery taste. It is full of moisture and fat, and delicious. The two self-service hot sauces both partner well with the pork, but leave the BBQ and other sauces alone.

If you come here for pork, go all the way and come here for pork. Before some of the other options, why not order a plate of lechon disco fries ($8, below), a huge bowl of fries topped with the same pork, mozzarella, and pork gravy. There might be too much cheese on here, if that is possible, but the fries as you can imagine are quite enjoyable.

For a break from lechon, the empanadas are also a good option. At $3 each, grab one for an appetizer and one for a dessert. The chorizo y queso (below, left) had a bit of melty cheese mixed into the sausage, but was almost undetectable. Regardless, it was great. The guava y queso (right) made a wonderful sweet finish to the meal.

On the next visit, we would love to try the house mofongo, and caught a glimpse of a patacón sandwich (below) that resembles the the one famous in Venezuela.

After visiting the restaurant, finding the original truck at one of New Jersey's many food truck events seems even more appealing.

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UNION New Jersey

1331 Magie Avenue