Since opening, Zankou Chicken has expanded and includes the following locations in the greater Los Angeles area: East Hollywood, Hollywood, West Los Angeles, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Toluca Lake, Van Nuys, Montebello, Anaheim, Huntington Beach, and Santa Clarita. The new restaurants would be owned by Mardiros, while the original Sunset and Normandie store would be owned by his parents and two sisters. In 1991, the family agreed to divide the business when Mardiros wanted to open additional restaurants. The restaurant is especially known for its thick, paste-like garlic sauce, created by Vartkes' wife, Markrid and widely imitated. The first restaurant in Los Angeles opened in an East Hollywood neighborhood called Little Armenia and is located at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Normandie Avenue. This included Armenian and Lebanese compatriots who fled Lebanon during the civil war. After considering opening a dry cleaning business or selling men's suits, Iskenderian recognized a lack of restaurants catering to the growing Middle Eastern immigrant population in Los Angeles. The chain was established within the United States in 1983 by his son, Mardiros Iskenderian, after the family immigrated to Los Angeles, California. The first Zankou Chicken opened in 1962 in the Bourj Hammoud neighborhood of Beirut, Lebanon, by Armenian Vartkes Iskenderian and his family. The restaurants are especially known for their spit-roasted chicken, shawarma, falafel, tahini, and a "secret" garlic sauce. While you’re waiting for your order, you’ll see people from all walks of life around you devouring their food just as you’re about to do, proving once again that great food sees no boundaries and brings people together.Zankou Chicken is a small, family-owned chain of Armenian and Mediterranean fast casual restaurants located in the Los Angeles area. If you take the pita home, heating it up on the stove right over the flame brings it back to life. The pita is the weakest thing here, wonderfully pliable and soft when it’s warm but hardening into a frisbee before too long. Sides of tabbouleh, mutabbal, and hummus are available, the hummus being my favorite, creamy and decadent and made on-site. Most entrees come with a salad of magenta-hued pickled turnips, chopped tomatoes, and banana peppers, adding a bit of freshness and heat to an otherwise hearty meal. There are also spit-roasted meats beyond the modest fast-food counter, the basis of any number of shawerma and wraps on the menu. Times, saying that “such chicken needs no embellishment.” True, but a few flicks of the wrist and douses of the glorious garlic sauce wouldn’t hurt. In 2011, a place that resembled Zankou Chicken was featured on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” where a plotzing Larry and Jeff talk about chicken that’s so good that it could have ended the rift in the Middle East.īefore this, Jonathan Gold wrote about Zankou’s magical chicken in his column Counter Intelligence for the L.A. Available as whole, half, or quarter portions, it’s juicy and moist with golden, crispy skin unlike any you’ve ever seen at this price point, endearing a legion of fans and sparking a level of devotion that qualifies a bit as ‘cult status.’ The rotisserie chicken here should not be missed. Ultimately, despite initial desires to be a national chain, some deep-seated family drama is why there’s not a Zankou near everyone today. There’s real animosity and ugliness involved - Google “ Zankou chicken murders” if this review is putting you to sleep. Nine of them are owned by Mardiros’ four sons and their mother, Rita the other Zankou’s are owned by relatives (cousins), and these two family branches are at war. Today, there are thirteen restaurants total. The location at the corner of Sunset and Normandie in Little Armenia was the first, opened in 1983 by Mardiros Iskenderian after the family emigrated from Beirut. As always, when family is involved, it’s never simple. Zankou is a small family-owned chain with a complicated family history. Even the Zagat Guide called the chicken dinner here “the single best takeout dish in town.” The family This may be fast food, but it’s good food. This stuff is truly one of life’s little treats so ask for extra with your order. Basically, I slather this everywhere to masterful effect. Known officially as toum, it’s a whipped, thick, white paste that packs a potent garlic punch to start and then finishes with a lemon sting, a happy symphony that lifts everything from meats to vegetables to bread. Orange County, CA ( The Joy of Food) - Zankou, you had me at “garlic sauce,” the Holy Grail in a little plastic container.
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