Restaurant Review #35: Zankou Chicken, West LA and Van Nuys

Chicken Tarna Wrap

After a girl in my public speaking group gave a mini-speech on Zankou chicken--well, I was skeptical. Roasted chicken? Ehh. Not my thing. Roasted chicken has an odd texture, kind of like someone already chewed the chicken and then put it back together for me to eat. But somehow I convinced myself that I needed to taste what she'd spent several uninterrupted minutes raving about.

I went to the Van Nuys location last Saturday night. Wow, a parking lot! Just one of many reasons why I love the Valley. I was glad I hadn't taken my visiting family there as soon as I walked in--I was expecting casual, but didn't realize that it was absolutely a fast food restaurant. No decor, ugly tables, big backlit menu photos behind the cash registers. Fortunately, I was getting my food to go.

I ordered the chicken tarna wrap, and then tried to order a container of garlic sauce and a container of pickles (I could eat pickled turnips all day long until my tongue started bleeding from the acidity). Fortuantely, the cashier told me that both came with my sandwich. Sweet!


Pickles

I can't say much about the presentation--this is fast food, after all. Fortunately, that also means it's cheap. My sandwich was $3. Don't let the price, decor, or presentation fool you though--this food is very tasty! The pickles were more pickly than any I had ever munched before. I wonder what gives them that hot pink glow? The chicken was moist and tasty, and didn't have that pre-chewed texture I'd been dreading. There also weren't any stray fat globs that you sometimes find in fast-food meat (and, well, all meat--that's a large part of why I first stopped eating it). When I was finished, I really wanted another sandwich. I also wished I'd ordered some falafel. Next time, baby, next time. Like dinner tonight, perhaps?

Zankou Chicken
5658 Sepulveda Blvd., #103
Van Nuys, CA 91411
(818) 781.0615
(Corner of Sepulveda and Burbank)
http://www.zankouchicken.com


Zankou's shiny new West LA location, also on Sepulveda just south of Santa Monica Blvd.