El Paraiso

I have been informed that El Paraiso has moved up the street a few blocks north of the location at which I tried it. Don’t quote me, though.
El Paraiso’s menu claims that the place has the best grilled chicken in town. This self-​aggrandizing marketing is probably hyperbole, but it still was some pretty darn good chicken. My friend and I found El Paraiso while looking for a lechonero or lechonera at a Puerto Rican place up the street, which I’m told is now the new location of El Paraiso. Again, don’t quote me. Anyway, on the drive to the Puerto Rican place, we passed El Paraiso and noticed huge grills and billowing smoke. The best part was the fantastic aroma of the grilled chicken that wafted through my car’s air conditioning system. I said to my friend that if our quest for the Puerto Rican place was a bust, we were going to eat at El Paraiso. Sure enough, the quest for the Puerto Rican place was successful in the sense that we found it. It was, however, closed. Oh the horror! Oh well, I guess we were just going to have to taste that grilled chicken which smelled so amazing.
Granted, it’s been a long time since I’ve been to El Paraiso, but that’s just a function mostly of geographical separation. If it were closer to where Iive and/​or work, I’d be all over it more regularly. Still, the memory of the tasty grilled chicken is still with me. Time has diluted out the memory of some of the subtle details, but I can assure you it was beautifully seasoned and perfectly cooked with just the right amount of caramelization and char. I have got to get back there.