NVM Review

By Warren Rojas

Super Chicken’s seductive birds are often stacked pyramid-style in the main warming case—a monument to deliciousness that has beckoned to poultry-loving pilgrims since 1999.

Co-owner Ravind Aggarwal estimates the original Falls Church location (they also have a branch in Maryland and sold a spinoff still operating in Manassas) turns out around 100 rotisserie birds per day. He says each chicken is marinated for approximately 24 to 36 hours in his partner’s secret family recipe, of which he notes only that they traffic highly in cumin seed and black pepper.

Staff feed the industrial rotisseries—tasked with handling the from-open-to-close roasting duties—a steady diet of all-natural lump charcoal (the sooty sacks are piled high in the already-claustrophobia-inducing back hallway).

“That’s the thing that makes it so special,” Aggarwal says of the unadulterated woodiness that permeates the glistening chickens.

Each bird is, indeed, enrobed in smoke.

The deep bronze crust of each spun-till-just-perfect specimen is studded with charred hints at the secret rub within (we detected salt, pepper, cumin and perhaps just a hint of curry). The perfume of consumed hardwoods plugs your nostrils each time a juice-laden piece meets your lips. Meanwhile, house sauces—white dipping sauce yields mayo doctored with herbs and lemon; homemade hot sauce is a chunky-style, green chili paste that sparks a flavor explosion across the taste buds—bolster birds and sides alike.

Fried yucca is extra crispy on the outside but still warm/fleshy on the inside (quite tasty, even sans sauce). Fried plantains are sugary slices of tender fruit (terrifically sweet).

Sugar-dusted alfajores reveal remarkably moist biscuits (don’t break or split so much as bend) wrapped around gooey-rich dulce de leche (a satisfying send-off).