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    What Did The South Do To 'Arroz Con Pollo'? It's A Cheese-Covered Mystery

    Arroz con pollo, or rice with chicken, is a dish beloved in much of Latin America. But in the South, it's morphed into ACP, a cheese-smothered phenomenon that built Mexican-restaurant empires.
    by Gustavo Arellano Apr 09, 2018 5 minutes
    ACP at Cancun Restaurant in Crossville, Tenn. This cheese-covered Southern interpretation of <em>arroz con pollo</em> is not the saffron-colored rice and golden chicken that many Latinos who grew up eating the dish would recognize. But ACP nonetheless helped build Mexican restaurant empires across the South.

    Alongside tamales and maybe empanadas, arroz con pollo is one of the most beloved dishes in Latin America. Every country has a version of this one-pot meal that finds chicken cooked on a bed of seasoned rice. The Latino consensus is that Caribbeans prepare it best, and it's a tossup between Cuba and Puerto Rico over who makes it best. (I especially enjoy how Dominicans do it because I can spike it with the nation's electric mojo de ajo).

    is an afterthought in Mexican cuisine, however. We do love chicken and rice, but rice is almost always a side, and we prefer chicken in tacos, in soups, inside enchiladas, or topped with mole. Few Mexican restaurants in the United States carry , except in the American South. There, the dish is commonly known as

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