On the way home the other night from The Shady Lady (meeting Serious Eats NY Editor and neighbor Max Falkowitz! I love connecting with food-loving-writing Astorians), we spotted a woman walking past us with snack that looked like a flatbread with stuff on it. We turned and stared, trying to figure out what it was, but couldn’t. We turned back around and within a short time discovered what it was she was eating—chicharrón preparado.
I had only encountered this delicious snack on the Jackson Heights-Corona border—never in Astoria. But there it was, offered as a special dish from the El Rey Del Taco truck on 30th Avenue, confirmed by a handwritten sign. They once posted a fish taco special on a similar handwritten sign in the same place.
I first heard about chicharrón preparado in an article written by Sara Markel-Gonzalez about where to find them in Corona and Jackson Heights. They have origins in Mexico and are a popular street snack in the summer.
It’s basically a relatively flat piece of chicharrón—in this case, not fried pork skin but chicharrón de harina, which is still deep fried but made with flour. It’s topped with cabbage, tomatoes, avocado, crema, cotija cheese, and round rings of pickled pork rinds called cueritos. Usually Salsa Valentina (a hot sauce that is also common in making micheladas) is drizzled on top, pulling the whole thing together.
And I can tell you—it is delicious. The whole thing is a combination of crunchy/crispy, tangy, creamy, spicy, and a bit porky. So delicious. I was full from my meal, otherwise I would have eaten one. And I didn’t want to buy it and eat it later because soggy chicharrón (pork or otherwise) is really unpleasant.
I’ll be keeping an eye on this taco truck—and checking its availability at their Ditmars Blvd. truck, too—and hope to run into another opportunity for chicharrón preparado soon.
