Zankou Chicken

From Burden's Landing

https://zankouchicken.com/

Armenian fast food roast chicken across Southern California. Famous for its crispy skin, garlic sauce, pickled purple turnips, and iconic yellow shirts. In addition to chicken, they serve kabobs, shawarma, and falafel.

Greg made casual reference to it at our high school reunion on April 29, 2017 in a conversation about Armenian food. Everyone started jumping in with Zankou stories. It was clear that I had missed out on a Southern Californian staple growing up. I made up for it the next day with Mom and Dad.

The food there was solid — well-balanced, tasty, and affordable. The chicken skin was as good as advertised. The garlic paste is essentially garlic butter. The chicken itself was dry (I don't know any roast chicken place that isn't) and underseasoned, but eaten with all the accoutrements, everything is delicious. There's chicken skin in the basmati rice — a nice touch. I liked the pickles, etc.

Most of all I just liked the feel of the place. It was hopping — all kinds of folks were eating there — and the service was good. I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there again, but I would definitely happily go back.

Locations

Original is in East Hollywood:

5065 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323-665-7845

There's also one in Anaheim:

2424 W Ball Rd S
Anaheim, CA 92804
Phone: 714-229-2060
Hours: 10am–10pm

See Also