The last time I ate at Lechonera La Isla was about five years ago, when the guy who I only ever knew as Hector was still running the place. This was during that pre-vax pandemic winter of 2021, and the masked-up chef and owner piled on his steam-table delights from behind sheets of cheap plexiglass. It was a grim era to be sure, and I had to "picnic" in a snow-covered pocket park nearby, but man did it make me happy to tuck into Hector's overflowing platters of Puerto Rican classics.
I finally made it back up to the eastern end of 125th Street last week to see what's up with the place, and I'm sorry to report that this stretch of Harlem's fabled boulevard is still lined with construction-site plywood and depressing mega-chains—but I'm thrilled to report that Lechonera La Isla is still serving up nothing but bangers hard by the on-ramp to the Triborough Bridge. Seriously, the spot feels like the last of its kind over here, an old-school holdout against the wave of same-ification rolling over the area.