Alvaro Zamuria, the coconut guy at Palacio de los Jugos, has mad skills with a machete. A swift thwack, thwack, thwack, and you're sipping sweet, cool agua de coco straight from the source.

Maday Gonzalez, the plantain lady, can turn out mountains of crispy mariquitas and fry amazingly complex tostones -- crunchy outside, chewy and somehow airy inside -- all day long in her sweltering glass cubicle and never drop blistering lard on herself.

That's right -- lard. Manteca. The stuff that sends the cholesterol police into conniptions but tastes like back home. El Palacio de los Jugos, that Cuban-Miami landmark on Flagler Street at 57th Avenue -- there are several branches, plus a few bogus locations about to be sued by the original owners -- has spent more than three decades paying homage to the concept of keeping things real. The place would never mess with something so blasphemous as vegetable oil.

The Palace of the Juices is hardcore. Forget frills. Pretty much a produce plaza with stations for hot food (seafood, grilled meats, stews and soups and sandwiches) and outdoor seating under misters that do little to ease the heat, the main location attracts a cross-section of Latin Miami: Lawyers and politicians in suits, guajiros (country folk) in straw hats and anybody in between. It's also big with in-the-know gourmands and famous chefs who drool for its authentic flavors.

New York chef and Food Network star Bobby Flay never fails to visit when he's in town.

``I stay there for hours,'' he told an audience at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in February. ``I start with a little fresh mango juice. Then I get out of line. I go to the prepared foods, and I eat some plantains and some roasted pork and rice and beans. And I have to have a Cuban sandwich there too, always. Then a little bit of coconut water. You know the guy with the machete? That guy is bad. Don't mess with that guy.''

Ferran Adriá, often hailed as the most important chef in the world for the revolution his ``molecular gastronomy'' created in his Spanish homeland, can also go on about the joint. Martha Stewart once taped her show there.

Miami star chef Michelle Bernstein doesn't mind sharing that she has bought the chicharrones, those crunchy, salty strips of fried pork fat with juicy meat attached, to use in her signature dishes.

`AS GOOD AS IT GETS'

``I would buy them there until I learned how to make them myself. They're almost as good but not quite,'' says the Argentine-American Bernstein, chef of Michy's and Sra. Martinez. ``The place is not fancy, but it's as good as it gets for Miami flavors. My parents used to take me there when I was a kid. We used to sit outside on Sundays, my Jewish father with the big pork sandwiches.''

If you're Cuban, a visit is almost a patriotic act, though folks from all over Latin America call Palacio home, too. The place on 57th is the patriarch, but there are branches at 14300 SW Eighth St. and 7085 SW 24th St. Construction is expected to start soon on a shiny new Palacio on Calle Ocho across from the venerable Versailles and down the block from the equally famed La Carreta.

After some back and forth with Felipe Valls Sr., who owns both Calle Ocho restaurants, Palacio owner Rey Bermudez Jr. has agreed to work out a partnership that would benefit both families.

``We're kind of joining forces to expand their concept,'' Felipe Valls Jr. says. ``But nothing is set in stone yet. We might sell their brand of juices at our restaurants in the airport. We might open other Palacio de los Jugos together at other locations.''