Yes, their chicken, shawarma, and other Middle Eastern delights are wonderful, but it's the garlic sauce people crave. You're probably wondering how spit-roasted chicken can be so exciting, but let me tell you it's not the chicken but the Armenian garlic sauce that put Zankou on the map. I had to resort to smuggling garlic sauce in my luggage after visits to LA. The best chicken experience of my life was at my fingertips any time I wanted!Īnd then I moved back east again and my Zankou Chicken dreams went down the drain. Years later I moved to Los Angeles and took advantage of the proximity to so many Zankou locations. Chicken would never taste the same to me without that incredibly pungent Zankou Chicken garlic sauce. I remember it well because it basically changed my life. My first Zankou Chicken meal was in July 1999 during a visit to Los Angeles to see some family friends. Musician Beck even sang about Zankou Chicken in his song "Debra." The well-known chain also has a tragic history, but through it all they serve up some of the best quick Middle Eastern fare around. It's a landmark chain in Los Angeles with outstanding Middle Eastern cuisine to back up its reputation. The recipe is a guarded secret, but this easy copycat recipe is the next best thing! Most notably they're famous for their epic Zankou Chicken garlic sauce. I'm sad for Margarit Iskenderian, but even sadder for everyone else if this is the end of Zankou.Zankou Chicken is an extremely popular Armenian-owned fast casual restaurant chain in the greater Los Angeles area. I'm going to post something in New York to find something comparable. I have found good schwerma here (Rainbow Falafel on 17th), but it's very very different and pales in comparison to my beloved Zankou. I've searched high and low for a close replacement in New York, but I haven't found anything close (admittedly I haven't looked outside of Manhattan much). The little glimmer of hope evaporates quickly when they learn the tshirt is from LA. I've been stopped on the streets in New York, and asked if Zankou Chicken has opened something here. People who've been there know the tshirt I'm talking about. She even gave me a Zankou tshirt (egg yolk yellow with orange lettering) a couple of years ago. A good friend, and I'm very lucky - I don't know that I'd be able to do that for someone else (carry on a cooler? please. At least twice a year she'll bring me back Zankou sandwiches - she makes a point to stop by Sunset/Zankou the day before flying back, and carries the sandwiches back on the plane, in a mini cooler. Watermelon rind? Beets?Ī good friend lives in New York, but her parents live in Brentwood. but Heaven! The slightly charred chicken compliments the other strong flavors very well, makes them a little more mellow and brings them back together.įor those in the know - *what* exactly are those pickles. It's all about the garlic paste, pickles, and small peppers - all very strong competing flavors, the result is difficult to describe. The sandwiches are simple in their construction - a folded pita (from plastic bag - not made fresh) a very pungent, thick, white garlic sauce (perhaps a little olive oil?) chicken cut from a rotating spit (similar to how gyros are cooked - the chicken meat is probably 90% white, and almost like butterflied breasts stacked up on the spit) neon pink pickles (the type of which I'm not sure), ranging from small slivers to several inches long (cut like a french fry) and small, very hot yellow peppers (somewhat similar to pepperoncini, but much smaller and hotter). You'd think that surly service, coupled with the harsh neon lights and less-comfortable-than-a-picnic-bench seating would keep me away, but I couldn't make it through a month without eating at Zankou *at least* twice - and often significantly more. To me, the service at Zankou is beyond apathetic - it's downright surly (at least in Van Nuys - my experiences at the Hollywood location were slightly better). In another thread today, I made mention of my very low tolerance to apathetic service. M: "It's only 9:40, you don't close until 10" Me: "Two chicken schwerma, extra pickle & peppers" During a point in my career when I was working late a lot, probably two nights a week I'd push myself to get out of the office so that I could make it to Zankou before they closed. Before New York, I lived in Sherman Oaks, less than a mile from the Van Nuys Zankou location.
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