I’ve written about Zankou Chicken’s rotisserie chicken before. There was a time I binged on it, eating there week after week, consuming bird after bird, smearing that toum (garlic paste) on every surface that was edible.
When I went back recently (because the line at Halal Guys was too long and I was craving something that resembled a shawarma), I realized how much I’ve missed it. It’s rotisserie chicken done to perfection. If you’ve not had Zankou and have thus far associated rotisserie chicken with Costco, you need to come and reset that definition.
The chicken at Zankou’s is the best chicken can be. It’s cooked in literal stages, twirling on a multi-tiered oven, gradually moved up a level as time progresses. And because of this, each chicken is basted with the dripping juices of the other chickens that turn above it.
Once it’s reached the top, the skin is now fully rendered so that it’s wafer-thin and flaky unlike anything you’ve ever peeled off a roasted bird. It’s so wispy, so crispy, so intense from the fusing of the spices baked into it, my eyes rolled to the back my head when I tasted it.
And then I dug into the hen full bore, tearing off fistfuls of juicy meat, laying down pieces of the skin, slathering that garlic paste like cake frosting as I assembled my wrap from a toasted round of pita bread. Oh, Zankou chicken. Is it any wonder Beck has sung your praises?
