Señor Chicken

aka Mr. Pollo

Hello, everyone!

Just a heads up, we still have a few tickets left to the Crust Fund charity pop-up this coming Thursday! We’ll be serving up some clever dishes from chefs Jonathan Zaragoza and Danny Sweis of Ragadan (who will be making milkshakes), plus John Carruthers and I are putting together some novel pies that’ll only be available that night.

I forgot to mention last time that you won’t be walking away empty-handed: You get a copy of Super Pizza World to take home too. There were some questions about the location — it’ll be held at the See You Soon photo studio and event space located within the Kimball Arts Center, which is located at the corner of Kimball and Bloomingdale. Come say hi to me and my handsome (okay, average) face!

Before we dive into Ecuadorian rotisserie chicken today, one really nice thing happened this weekend. Davida and I visited the subject of last week’s paywalled newsletter, New Delta Restaurant (a rare freebie reveal), since she hadn’t been able to go with me yet. When we stepped in, we saw that the place was busy. Like, real busy.

The owner, Penny, said that a bunch of new customers had come in and mentioned me by name. Whether or not you follow me on Instagram or just read the newsletter (thank you!), it was really heartening to know that people are paying attention and supporting places like this.

Just the usual call — please consider upgrading your subscription to support the newsletter. I’m stubbornly clinging to my chosen profession of food writing, but can only run this thing independently through your help. You guys are all just covering expenses at slightly over a buck per piece.

Today, we’re headed to this tiny little shop in Avondale that I’ve passed about a million times now. Its cute name is a giveaway to its specialty, which’ll scratch a very specific itch.

That’s why my curiosity took me to Mr. Pollo, on Belmont and Whipple.

Mr. Pollo has two locations, this one in Avondale, and one on West Diversey in Belmont Cragin.

This location used to have a yellow awning on top with its name on it, but for some reason, it’s not on the building’s facade right now. The little menu board in the window means you’re at the right place.

Mr. Pollo specializes in Ecuadorian roasted chicken and side dishes, and being a rotisserie chicken connoisseur myself (there’s an art to hanging around the Costco chicken counter), you knew I was going to eventually pop in.

I started with one of all three empanadas ($3.50 each).

There’s cheese, beef, and pineapple, and they’re all worth getting. They’re the deep-fried kind, blistered and piping hot on the inside. Out of the two savory options, the cheese is generously filled and gooey, but the beef is my hands down favorite. That’s because the filling is rich and hearty, seasoned generously, and packed with flavor.

The pineapple one reads much more like a dessert; the pineapple paste on the inside is sweet, simple, and sticky, and I bet a few of these would make for a pretty good breakfast.

You get a little set of side sauces with your order, including squeeze bottles of ketchup and mayo, salsa verde, pico de gallo, and chimichurri.

The house-made sauces are downright wonderful, and all have a kick to them.

My favorite is the green salsa, which has a slight grassy bitterness to it, and a long tail in terms of heat. But the chimichurri is flavorful and bright (no skimping on the fruity olive oil here), and the surprisingly spicy fresh pico de gallo is hard to stop eating.

I noticed a dish I wasn’t familiar with listed on the menu, just below the empanadas, called a tortilla de verde ($3.50).

The menu described it as a green plantain patty filled with cheese, and I have to say, after trying it for the first time, now I’m kind of hooked.

This disc of mashed fried green plantains is large, about the size of my palm, and is filled with a mild thin-bodied cheese that has the texture of a creamy sauce.

The tortilla de verde isn’t a powerhouse of flavor (in fact, it’s barely seasoned, if at all), but that makes it a good blank canvas for condiments. I imagine that one of these with a bowl of black beans on the side would make for a pretty good vegetarian lunch.

One really fascinating item on Mr. Pollo’s menu are the pescuezos, or chicken necks ($9 for 1/2 pound; $17 for a full one).

I think it’s so cool that you can get chicken necks, normally considered scrap meat, as something to snack on. They’re certainly challenging to eat, due to the fact that they’re more bone than flesh, but there’s something so satisfying about being able to pull off a long strip of meat with your teeth every now and again. They come coated in a thick and relatively mild hot sauce, so a comparison to Buffalo wings wouldn’t be too far-fetched, no blue cheese dip necessary here.

Then there’s the main attraction, the chicken itself.

Mr. Pollo sells varying meal sizes involving the roasted bird. There’s a quarter chicken with two sides ($11.75), a half-chicken meal with two sides ($17.49), and a whole rotisserie chicken meal with three sides ($31.98).

I ordered the whole chicken meal just so I could try a good amount of sides in the process. The chicken itself isn’t anything you haven’t had before, maybe just seasoned slightly differently than the grocery store variety, with a bit of garlic, oregano, and cumin in the mix. Still, that slight flavor difference is really nice and would easily beat Boston Market, if it were still around.

I’d be lying if I said this stuff’ll change your life in any way; the breast meat’s still a bit dry just like most rotisserie chicken, but the dark meat is nice and tender. But overall, I still feel like it’s a great change from the deli counter stuff, and if you find any bites too dry for your liking, the irresistible table salsas are a perfect remedy.

The yuca fries (all sides are $5.49 a la carte) at Mr. Pollo are better than most versions I’ve previously had.

My past run-ins with fried yuca have usually involved much paler pieces, but these giant hand-cut spears are served golden brown and are genuinely crisp, not floppy. Their interiors are fluffy and starchy, too, which is a huge plus — undercooked yuca can be quite mealy. If yuca’s not your thing, you can get regular fries instead.

The black beans at Mr. Pollo are perfectly stewed, and come with soft creamy interiors.

They’re simple, but a properly cooked bean is one to appreciate, and I am pretty sure I could eat ones like this every day. You can also order a bowl of white rice as an additional side, if you want to go the black beans and rice route.

And lastly, I got a side of maduros, or fried sweet plantains as well.

I was just in the mood for the sweet plantains versus the more modest starchy ones (tostones) that day, and they hit the spot with their darkly caramelized exteriors and smooth soft centers. I’m pretty excited to go back and try some of the other sides as well, because there’s also a curious pasta salad on the menu. My friend Ian, who’s a chef, swears by Mr. Pollo’s Caesar salad, too.

Rotisserie chicken doesn’t just make for a convenient dine-in meal, but it’s also an excellent candidate for take-out, since it reheats so well. And though it can be hard to tell from my top-down photos, the side portions are very generous. This’ll feed a family of four for about $8 per person, and you can’t beat prices like that.

Oh, and about the staff. They were cheerfully decorating the space for the holidays, which was fun to see, and my server was extremely attentive, regularly making sure I was doing okay. That’s Ecuadorian rotisserie chicken with a side of sweet hospitality for you.

Davida and I eventually ate the leftovers for multiple days in a row (and happily, I might add). I just wished I could have purchased a whole pint of that salsa verde, however, because I could put that stuff on anything — and next time I go back, I’ll be sure to get a few extra little cups of it to take home.

Mr. Pollo
3026 W. Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 509-1208

Hours:
Monday - Friday: 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Saturday - Sunday: 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.

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Hope to see some of your faces on Thursday; a few of you have already reported that you’re coming. Otherwise, let’s have a cheerful week, shall we? Love you guys.