I cold-step to you with a fresh pack of gum. It'll spare you the greasy fingers, but not the flavors. It's a generous helping of diced, seasoned chicken, tomatoes and smear of that garlic sauce, wrapped around a toasted pita. The one pictured here is the Chicken Tarna. If you don't want to revert to this primal eating frenzy, Zankou offers pre-disassembled meats in its wraps. Even then, you'll succumb to the urge of trying to pick out every last bit of meat from that nook of joint you missed. You can finally feel like a true carnivore when you've finished and you're left with nothing but the bony carcass. I'm not a fan of the breast, which can be dry, but the thigh and leg meat is always succulent. The meat is lighter in flavor, but perfectly cooked. I could eat the skin like chips, if Zankou sold it alone. Basted with the dripping juices of the other chickens that turn above it, the skin of a Zankou chicken is crispy golden brown and infused with intense flavor. The chicken is as good as a rotisserie bird can get. The tangy garlic punch will elevate the meat to levels beyond where a normal chicken could go by itself.ĭon't get me wrong though. White, with the appearance and consistency of creamed butter, this robust concoction is meant to be slathered onto your chicken and/or pita bread. Oh that garlic paste! Packaged innocently in small Solo plastic cups, it is the reason the city of Gilroy thrives. And then they would get back to their chicken, licking those greasy fingers to get every last bit of that garlic paste from underneath their nails. Once and again, the Middle Eastern families, working stiffs, and Anaheim police officers who eat here would look up from their chicken and eye the odd group of people with floppy Goofy hats and Mickey Mouse ears. Zankou isn't for the typical Disney tourist. What's more, after he's amassed enough change, he'll come in for some Zankou chicken himself. No fake lattice-work fences or painted-on ivy. Unlike that tourist-trappy stretch of Harbor Blvd., you won't find cheesy, faux-Fantasyland facades here. Located a few blocks away from Disneyland, Zankou exists in the part of Anaheim few tourist dare to venture. And for me, in the few years that I held a Disneyland Annual Passport, Zankou food was the default after a food-free day at the park. we have our own solitary branch of Zankou in Anaheim. And that garlic paste still does its job, fouling up the breaths of many an Angeleno. Deciphering the garlic paste recipe was next in the path of true Chowhoundhood.Īlthough most of the fervent enthusiasm has subsided, perhaps because Zankou comfortably transitioned to become an everyday staple of the Chowhound diet, the restaurant still churns out dependably good chicken. And for a while, noshing on Zankou's rotisserie bird and slathering it all over with that garlic paste, seemed like *the* quintessential rite of passage for a Chowhound. Even Beck references Zankou in his song, "Debra". ![]() From Chowhound, to the NY Times, everyone, it seems, has raved about this L.A. Much has been written about Zankou Chicken.
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