The Latin Pig

Wow.. it's almost been a month since I last posted! It's been busy busy as always. And I've actually been cooking more! Gasp! :P haha.

About 2 weeks ago I went to go see Chef, the new movie by (and starring) Jon Favreau. I was soooo excited about this movie. The trailer looked fantastic. And it's about food! I made time on a weeknight to go watch it with some friends. It was so good. I already had high expectations and it totally exceeded it. It had passion, humor, struggles, and of course food. The food prep/cooking/plating scenes were orgasmic. I was drooling through the whole movie. GO. SEE. IT.!!! Just do it. But don't go on an empty stomach! :P

Anyways, they featured a lot of Cuban flavors in the movie, since the food truck was a Cuban food truck. haha. And they made tons of Cubanos (cuban sandwiches), just one after another. With that crispy toasted bread, the slow roasted pork. OMG! I'm drooling again!

Since I saw the movie, I had been craving a Cubano like no other. I finally made it to a Latin restaurant a few days later.

The Latin Pig
3131 Custer Road, Ste #165
Plano, TX 75075
(972) 985-9760
www.thelatinpig.com
Price: $-$$

This place was on my radar for a while but then I kinda forgot about it. In my search for a Cubano, it came up again. The reviews seemed very positive. And they've got all the things I wanted to try!

It's a tiny little place in a strip mall in Plano. Only about 4 booth for seating, a lot of people came in for to-go orders. You order at the counter and they bring the food out to you. There's a bit of a wait since they seem short staffed. But the guy was super friendly so it's all good. He even took the time to come check on us once all the food came out. :)

I got an order of Maduros (fried sweet plantains) $2.50~ Love me some plantains. For $2.50, this was a pretty good portion. The plantains were soft and sweet. Yummy!!

Cubano (roasted pulled pork, ham, swiss cheese, pickles and Mojo de Ajo; served on toasted Italian bread) $7.99~ 

Of course I got this, duh! The whole reason I found this place. haha. It had a great crispy crust and the size was good. It was pretty good, but didn't live up to my expectations and the hype I got from the movie. Mainly because it seemed a bit dry. The pork wasn't that juicy. The flavors were good but it was missing something. I took half of it to go. At home, I spread some whole grain mustard on it and voila! it was sooo much better! I realized they didn't put mustard on their Cubano. Isn't that a required ingredient?

We also got the Rabo Encendido (slow stewed oxtail) $14.99~ I chose to pair it with Arroz con Gandules (yellow rice and Latin peas), per the staff's recommendation. 

I love oxtail. It's pretty hard to find around here. The only other place I've had oxtails (other than at home) was Buttons, a southern restaurant in Addison. Needless to say I was pretty excited. Plus my bf had never had it before and wanted to try. A bit pricey for this plate since oxtails don't have that much meat. FYI, they only have this dish on Fridays-Sundays. It was served on a bed of rice. I wish there was some side of veggies or something too. But the flavor of the oxtail was really good. The meat itself was not tender enough, but sometimes it's fun to gnaw on the bones to see how much meat you can get off of it. haha. The rice turned out to be the icing on the cake. It was a really good pairing with the oxtails. We both liked it a lot. And we scraped the plate clean. My mom's oxtail is still better, but she doesn't prepare it in Latin flavors of course. I'm still glad we tried it. And my bf really enjoyed it! He'll try pretty much anything. I'm so proud. :P

Guava Pastry $1.75~ 

 

I got this to go for dessert later. Hard to find guava around here too. Although I prefer the guava we have in Taiwan where it's white in the inside green on the outside. I think latin guava is pink. It was guava past inside flaky puff pastry. It was good. Needed more guava paste though.

All in all, it was a good little find. They have some other dishes I'd like to try as well. And if I get the Cubano again, I'll ask them to slather some mustard on there!

And... GO SEE CHEF!!!! Trust me, you'll love it! :)

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~