NVM Review

By Warren Rojas

After collecting my order from the front counter, I scan the main dining room for any clearings amid the tightly packed communal tables.

With a vacant seat locked in my sights, I navigate the sea of humanity (my dining compatriots are a regular Rainbow Coalition of rotisserie chicken connoisseurs) and join the masses in savoring the mound of still-steaming poultry before me.

Welcome to another feeding frenzy at The Chicken Place.

Manager Jose Marquina says the 11-year-old establishment remains steadily busy throughout the day, doling out around 800 to 900 of their signature birds weekly.

According to Marquina, each chicken is marinated for 24 hours in a secret family recipe and cooked for anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour over all-natural lump charcoal.

Their bird looks somewhat plainer than its regional counterparts, eschewing showy herbs or prominent scorching in lieu of a glistening but greaseless copper sheen. The meat is well seasoned and unquestionably juicy, but oddly nondescript (no one spice jumped out at me).

Pallid-looking yucca proves disastrously dry and receives little resuscitation from its watery mayonnaise accompaniment. A minced green chilies preparation looks somewhat diluted but ultimately brings the heat.

Sweets are merely satisfactory.

I felt like there was too much pseudo-generic shortbread cookie left at the end of my alfajor (centralized coin of dulce de leche dissapears much too quickly), while a mismatched pionono wrapped tragically dull cake around layers of ultra rich manjar blanco.