Chicken Rico

There's a beautiful irony in the fact that though the owners of Chicken Rico have adopted a half-English name, Spanish has grown popular enough in the United States that all my friends call the store Pollo Rico anyway. Located on Eastern Avenue in Highlandtown, Pollo Rico is where good chickens go whern they die and smart humans go when they're hungry.

Half a chicken costs $7.25 and comes with two sides, which include beans, rice, tortillas, yuca, plantains as well as more traditional fries. I think I'm missing a few options, actually. There seemed to be 30 different available sides. But who cares, the point is the chicken.

And what chicken it is. As I watched the man behind the counter slice my chicken in half with his massive cleaver, I could tell by the way that big knife slid easily through the dead bird that the chicken was super tender. For those afraid of the un-amuriken flavors sometimes found in Latin food, relax. Peruvian-style chicken is roasted in herbs not too different from those your grandma used to use. Chicken Rico does provide a small container of fiery, delicious green jalepeño salsa, though, which I found perfect with the fried plaintains.

Rico did a steady lunch business. When I first walked in my buddy and I were the only non-Hispanics, but every race that can be found in Highlandtown soon filtered through. Good chicken, it turns out, is universal. The staff was quick and efficient and patient with the stupid gringo (me) that mixed up his plantains and his yuca.

To accompany my chicken I decided to pick one of the unfamiliar sodas always lurking in the coolers of Hispanic groceries. I chose Sangria Señorial, which the labeling promised was a non-alcoholic sangria-flavored carbonated beverage. My intense excitement at the prospect of sangria flavored soda was to be dissapointed by the actual product. Sangria Señorial tastes like a soda. Not a bad soda. Sort of like Dr. Pepper, really. I was hoping for a bit of the delicate fruit bouquet present in the best sangria, though, rather than repackaged, caramel-colored fizzy water.

You win some, you lose some.