El Pollo Campero, Guatemalan Fried Chicken

[hjshorter]

Both of these quotes lead to the real point of my post:  I'm guessing that both of you are relatively young, perhaps 35 or 40 or less.  I say this because so many people have FORGOT what really good food, even simple food, really tastes like.  Or never knew it when they grew up. 

Joe H, I think you're getting a little overheated here. As I said in a previous post, I am interested in the social aspect of this phenomenon. And Bill has it right in his post above:

Part of the interest is curiosity about what makes it so special that people will wait for hours to eat it. People on this board are endlessly fascinated by food related issues and phenomena beyond what tastes good. That's not necessarily good or bad, that's just the way we are.

There is more to food than just taste. These people are willing to stand in line because it's a taste of HOME to them, not because it's the best chicken in the world. As a foodie and an future anthropologist, I find that fascinating. What's wrong with that?

[Malawry]

I don't eat fried chicken too often. That being said, I prefer pressure-fried chicken to chicken fried in an open pan. It stays juicier. And this is the best commercial pressure-fried chicken I've tasted so far. But it's still not worth waiting in the lines for and so I recommended going after the novelty has receded somewhat.

My age, formerly vegetarian diet, and other prejudicial factors are all over this board, so I'm sure you'll all take what I have to say on this or any other subject with several grains of mass-produced Kosher salt.

[vengroff]

I don't think you have to be older than thirty to recognize that fast food today is different than it once was. I may have been a kid twenty years ago, but I know that the McDonalds burgers I ate back then were superior to today's in appearance, taste, and texture. And it was pretty obvious even back then a proper home-grilled burger was even better.

As for the social aspect, I grew up in West Texas. Today, if someone opened a fast food place that served legitimate tacos al carbon, tamales, borracho beans, and so on, I would would wait in line for it. If they had chorizo and egg tacos or huevos rancheros in the morning, I would go twice in the same day.

[mrs-j]

Wait a minute!  This is not that big of a deal unless you are Hispanic and grew up with this chain that ripped off American chains.  I'm being serious.  The chicken is excellent but it's NOT as good as Popeye's spicy WHEN Popeye's is served hot from the oil AND THE OIL WAS CHANGED THE NIGHT BEFORE.  Nor is at any better than Bojangle's under the same circumstances.  I've linked  reviews of it which show that not everyone who goes automatically falls in love with it.  ... Incredible that so many of you will jump on a bandwagon!

That's all well and good but I would like the opportunity to try this restaurant and judge for myself, if that's all right with you.

And I don't think it was necessary for you to single me out for the enthusiasm of my post. I've never had Popeye's or Bojangles right after THE OIL WAS CHANGED THE NIGHT BEFORE as far as I know. My local Popeye's doesn't post their oil changing schedule.

Still, I see no reason to get upset simply because I want to try authentic Guatemalan fried chicken. I like to try things I have never tried before. It's entirely possible that regardless of what your opinion is, I might find it incredible. I think I ought to have the chance to give it a try first before being called "young" and singled out for simply being enthusiastic about the place.

[Al_Dente]

My cast iron skillet has a crust 3/8" thick. Brought over on the Mayflower when food was REALLY good.

Edited October 22, 2003 by Al_Dente (log)

[morela]

mrs-j: don't worry this just the hazing ritual.

You're lucky!

They made me work a 20 hour shift doing fries at a McDonald's in sourtheast. Then I was forced to eat 12 smokey dogs (you know, the warty ones) from 7-11 in less than 4 minutes. Crazy!

I barely made it!

[morela]

still double-posting and everything...

how do I get rid of that first one?

[mrs-j]

mrs-j:  don't worry this just the hazing ritual.

You're lucky!

They made me work a 20 hour shift doing fries at a McDonald's in sourtheast.  Then I was forced to eat 12 smokey dogs (you know, the warty ones)  from 7-11 in less than 4 minutes.  Crazy!

I barely made it!

Wow Meaghan - that's rough! I don't know anyone who has worked that shift (and eaten those dogs) who has lived to tell about it before!

I was thinking on the way into the office that I'd like to go on record as saying I love pressure cooked fried chicken and I have never experienced the sheer joy of home-cooked fried chicken in a cast iron skillet. My mother was a lousy cook and our chicken always came soggy and out of a bucket. :sad: And I've been real sensitive about that all my life. *sniff*

Edited October 22, 2003 by mrs-j (log)

[Joe H]

hjshorter:There is more to food than just taste. These people are willing to stand in line because it's a taste of HOME to them, not because it's the best chicken in the world. As a foodie and an future anthropologist, I find that fascinating. What's wrong with that?

"While the chicken is excellent overall this is really a social event. 100% of the 50+ people in line at 10 Sunday morning were Hispanic with many running into people they knew. Most were getting larger orders and taking it elsewhere, only five or six of 50+ actually decided to eat in the store. For them this was literally a taste and an event from home." This is an excerpt from my post above; this is the third time that I've noted saying it yet you continue, as you did above, to bring it up. I agree with you. For the third time.

[Joe H]

Vengroff: Anita's actually has a legitimately good breakfast burrito. Also, the reason I focused on age was because so many things really began to change in the '60's; this is why I specifically cited under 40 in age. For instance it was in 1967 that McDonald's nationwide went from fresh potatoes which they sliced themselves and left the skin on, then blanched and hung on a rack overnight, then fried in 70% animal fat to frozen potatoes. Incrimentally they changed the oil to what it is today. BUT in the fall of 1967 when they did this I was going to college. A lot of us were ADDICTED to these french fries and survived on them. They ran a major marketing campaign telling the public they have IMPROVED their french fries, they were more consistent in the product they were putting out. We were devastated! This forced me into considering salads and other vegetables for the first time in my life. Their new fries were lousy in comparison. In the '70's they went to frozen patties just as they expanded their menus. (Originally they sold only three things: hamburgers, french fries and shakes/drinks. Nothing else; in the mid '50's they didn't even have double hamburgers.) But many, many places were like McDonald's and during this period of the '60's and into the '70's many went through enormous changes. This is why I mention age-no other reason.

I've been all over West Texas, I've even seen Mojo play Lee in Permian's stadium although I was the only person with an "accent" then. While this isn't West Texas I still go to Amarillo, Lubbock and El Paso but in El Paso I usually cross the border and go into Juarez to eat at one of several places. Lubbock has a couple of Mom and Pop Mexican places that are dirt cheap and phenominal; I was introduced to them by a friend who was born there. My real focus in Texas has been bbq and the area between Austin and San Antonio. Places like the Luling City Market, Smitty's and Black's in Lockhart or the Kreuz Market from before it was sold, links in Elgin, Cooper's and others. But these places are getting harder to find, a lot of people don't want to take the time and effort anymore to do it the old way. The day will come when brisket is talked about the same way I'm talking about french fries or pan fried chicken. From over twenty years of travel there every year I see another place that has closed.

[hjshorter]

hjshorter:There is more to food than just taste. These people are willing to stand in line because it's a taste of HOME to them, not because it's the best chicken in the world. As a foodie and an future anthropologist, I find that fascinating. What's wrong with that?   

"While the chicken is excellent overall this is really a social event. 100% of the 50+ people in line at 10 Sunday morning were Hispanic with many running into people they knew. Most were getting larger orders and taking it elsewhere, only five or six of 50+ actually decided to eat in the store. For them this was literally a taste and an event from home." This is an excerpt from my post above; this is the third time that I've noted saying it yet you continue, as you did above, to bring it up.  I agree with you.  For the third time.

Jeez, chill out. If you understand my point why can't you just drop it? Why the 1000 word posts railing about how much better the food was 50 years ago? What was the subject of this thread again?

[hannnah]

That would be the chicken. Which was good, even if it wasn't cooked by someone walking uphill both ways in the snow with their ancestral cast-iron skillet.

[Blondie]

That would be the chicken.  Which was good, even if it wasn't cooked by someone walking uphill both ways in the snow with their ancestral cast-iron skillet.

[Joe H]

Interesting. Several of you don't even pay attention to 80% of what I write which gives me a feeling of a complete waste of my time on this board. You live in the D. C. area, write at length about Central American culture that manifests itself in a line at a fast food chicken import, yet show absolutely no interest in D. C. traditions before you were born and home grown lines. (And you live here!) Or, most importantly for me, no one has said a word about how food has evolved to the point that cooking correctly from scratch is worth a joke and standing over an hour in line for fast food is justified. It doesn't seem to matter to anyone on here that standards have changed this much, nor is there any apparent interest in finding what something use to, what it really SHOULD taste like. Unbelievable. And this is suppose to be for people who are passionately into food.

I knew a girl once who thought beef stroganoff was hamburger stroganoff from a package. When I made stroganoff from scratch with filet, sour cream, etc. she appeared totally unfamiliar with it. It then that she told me that her mother cooked from a box, she'd never had it from scratch before. I never cooked for her again.

I really am on the WRONG board.

[hjshorter]

I'm done with this topic.

Edited October 22, 2003 by hjshorter (log)

[Malawry]

We have discussed local culinary traditions, the old favorite places in particular, in past threads. I for one really enjoyed and learned a lot from this discussion: Giffords and other old favorites.

I actually really am interested in what you have to say on the subject, Joe. I object to being browbeaten, put down because I've lived and dined here less than you have, or carped at about how people don't appreciate homemade food any longer. I dine out regularly, I have visited a lot of the old guard DC favorites and I completely understand a lot of the good food that used to exist here has long since been shuttered by the insistence on convenience and low-cost demands. I appreciate homemade food, I make food at home all the time, I make food "nobody" makes any longer like stocks and jams and my own pizza crust from scratch.

In this particular thread, we've been discussing Guatemalan fried chicken and whether or not it's worth a detour. I think we've all agreed with you that this is mass-produced fast-food chicken from a foreign chain, and nobody has declared that this is like what you might find on the menu at a place like Colorado Kitchen or Florida Ave Grill who respectively present authentic American and Soul versions of the dish (CK has run it as a special before) or what you might produce at home given the time and inclination to smell up the kitchen.

I think your opinions on other subjects are welcome on eGullet, and have relevance well beyond the DC area. I was also interested to read what you had to say about the chicken at Pollo Campero. What I don't understand is your frustration. Why not go rejuvenate the Giffords thread to talk about the old DC haunts, or start something on the General board about why things have changed. (I bet you'd find insights from people like Holly Moore who doesn't live in DC but does have a lot of experience in the shifting tides of cheap eats American restaurants.)

[hannnah]

no one has said a word about how food has evolved to the point that cooking correctly from scratch is worth a joke and standing over an hour in line for fast food is justified.

Because, quite honestly, that wasn't the point of the thread. The point, as I saw it, was "Is Pollo Campero any good or not?" I ate there, I provided my evaluation - in my opinion, it's good. I'm not worried about how often they change the grease at Popeye's because I don't like their chicken. I liked Pollo Campero's.

As far as "standing in line for an hour," I did it for the amusement value, because it was a nice fall afternoon, and because I wanted to try the chicken. I don't see any reason to compare Pollo Campero to a restaurant that was open in the 50s or 60s that I've never even heard of, much less been to, or to decry the fact that it doesn't taste like my grandmother's fried chicken because I don't expect it to.

If you want to address the downfall of society as exemplified by the fact that McDonald's french fries now taste like cardboard, by all means start another thread - I'm sure many of the folks here will be happy to weigh in with opinions.

[morela]

Switch to turkey or something...

[bilrus]

Interesting.  Several of you don't even pay attention to 80% of what I write which gives me a feeling of a complete waste of my time on this board. You live in the D. C. area, write at length about Central American culture that manifests itself in a line at a fast food chicken import, yet show absolutely no interest in D. C. traditions before you were born and home grown lines.  (And you live here!)  Or, most importantly for me, no one has said a word about how food has evolved to the point that cooking correctly from scratch is worth a joke and standing over an hour in line for fast food is justified. It doesn't seem to matter to anyone on here that standards have changed this much, nor is there any apparent interest in finding what something use to, what it really SHOULD taste like.  Unbelievable.  And this is suppose to be for people who are passionately into food.

I knew a girl once who thought beef stroganoff was hamburger stroganoff from a package.  When I made stroganoff from scratch with filet, sour cream, etc. she appeared totally unfamiliar with it.  It then that she told me that her mother cooked from a box, she'd never had it from scratch before.  I never cooked for her again. 

I really am on the WRONG board.

Couldn't the issue here be that BECAUSE things have changed so much since the late '60's (my entire life, as I was born in 1969) that the current comparisons are lacking.

If there aren't any options out there to get fried chicken as it was made from scratch in the '50's, what is wrong with pointing out and praising versions that are good comapred with what is available TODAY?

Just as some foods have gotten worse in the last 50 years, a great number of things have gotten better. I am sure that there is a wealth of more ethnic options. 50 years ago, would anyone have imagined that most of us would have Thai or Indian places within 5 miles of our houses? Or was there a culture of food that allowed for the variety of upscale dining that we have today? Isn't the upscale 'Modern American' food of today better than the upscale 'Continental' food of the '50s?

And Joe, you have been on here enough to know that a thick skin and a good sense of humor are prerequisites for survival and enjoyment. That's my major complaint about that other site that I know you are familiar with. There isn't that sense of back and forth and open debate that I so enjoy here on eGullet.

[Al_Dente]

Interesting.  Several of you don't even pay attention to 80% of what I write which gives me a feeling of a complete waste of my time on this board. You live in the D. C. area, write at length about Central American culture that manifests itself in a line at a fast food chicken import, yet show absolutely no interest in D. C. traditions before you were born and home grown lines.  (And you live here!)  Or, most importantly for me, no one has said a word about how food has evolved to the point that cooking correctly from scratch is worth a joke and standing over an hour in line for fast food is justified. It doesn't seem to matter to anyone on here that standards have changed this much, nor is there any apparent interest in finding what something use to, what it really SHOULD taste like.  Unbelievable.  And this is suppose to be for people who are passionately into food.

I knew a girl once who thought beef stroganoff was hamburger stroganoff from a package.  When I made stroganoff from scratch with filet, sour cream, etc. she appeared totally unfamiliar with it.  It then that she told me that her mother cooked from a box, she'd never had it from scratch before.  I never cooked for her again. 

I really am on the WRONG board.

I didn't see any writing that went on at length about Central American culture. I read about some folks checking out a chicken joint.

If you want to start a thread about DC traditions before I was born, go for it. Just don't browbeat me about how I'm too young (or naive or stupid or whatever your point was) to fathom your wealth of knowledge about how it SHOULD be prepared and how it SHOULD taste.

For what it's worth I am passionate about food and I love this site. I'm certain I'm on the RIGHT board.

[vengroff]

For a discussion of fried chicken, how it can or should be fried and in what, please check this thread in the cooking forum.

Sadly for me, apparently, I prefer to roast or grill my chickens, so I'm ignorant when it comes to the finer points of frying them. A good pan-fried chicken-fried steak, I know, but chicken-fried chicken (as we used to call it when I was growing up) not so much. I am, by the way, a graduate of Lubbock High School, if that matters in the West Texas culture department.

Back to chicken, I wonder if it's possible to find out what days they clean the fryers at the Guatamalan places and see if their quality varies from day to day as at their competition.

[bilrus]

I would assume that they would need to clean them pretty frequently due to the high volume of poultry they are pushing out of there.

That's a lot of chickens.

[mighty quinn]

Interesting.  Several of you don't even pay attention to 80% of what I write which gives me a feeling of a complete waste of my time on this board. You live in the D. C. area, write at length about Central American culture that manifests itself in a line at a fast food chicken import, yet show absolutely no interest in D. C. traditions before you were born and home grown lines.  (And you live here!)  Or, most importantly for me, no one has said a word about how food has evolved to the point that cooking correctly from scratch is worth a joke and standing over an hour in line for fast food is justified. It doesn't seem to matter to anyone on here that standards have changed this much, nor is there any apparent interest in finding what something use to, what it really SHOULD taste like.  Unbelievable.  And this is suppose to be for people who are passionately into food.

I knew a girl once who thought beef stroganoff was hamburger stroganoff from a package.  When I made stroganoff from scratch with filet, sour cream, etc. she appeared totally unfamiliar with it.  It then that she told me that her mother cooked from a box, she'd never had it from scratch before.  I never cooked for her again. 

I really am on the WRONG board.

I didn't see any writing that went on at length about Central American culture. I read about some folks checking out a chicken joint.

If you want to start a thread about DC traditions before I was born, go for it. Just don't browbeat me about how I'm too young (or naive or stupid or whatever your point was) to fathom your wealth of knowledge about how it SHOULD be prepared and how it SHOULD taste.

For what it's worth I am passionate about food and I love this site. I'm certain I'm on the RIGHT board.

i want more threads about pretentious foodies beating each other to bloody cyberpulp with cast iron frying pans. and can y'all get a little more serious about comparing the thickness of the schmeg on the frying pans?? it's so like guys having a size contest- i'm getting a little hot and bothered down here in hampton roads. as for this chicken- sounds tasty, looks tasty. think that i don't see many of the working -class latinos in d.c. standing in line for zatinya! and i wish that there were a good, open all nite tx taco joint in norva. would love to have menudo at 0300 or a beer and breaky taco after work.

[Steve Klc]

I think it sounds tasty and looks tasty as well, but wow, there is a lot here.

"That's my major complaint about that other site that I know you are familiar with. There isn't that sense of back and forth and open debate that I so enjoy here on eGullet."

It's OK to mention Chowhound, really, no need to play coy. By now, everyone knows exactly what you'll find on that lightweight site and what you won't.

And for those reading along who inhabit Chowhound and eG, instead of reprising stuff already posted on Chowhound first, just link to it. eG doesn't delete mention of CH, unlike the way CH actively deletes links and mentions of eG. Engage here, engage there, wherever you find it more rewarding and comfortable. When you are here, though, we all should try to refrain from casting personal aspersions on or "characterizing" other eG board members. That's childish and unfortunately seems to belie age; it's also against our User Agreement. Let's stick to what people actually write, engage on the merits and ideas expressed and not wander into speculation about the "person" or the class of users or the pretentiousness of the "board." That's not how we at eG operate.

Here's an example of something which clashes with our User Agreement:

"I think a lot of people on this board are really impressed with lines formed for social reasons that have little to do with how something really tastes! This is excellent chicken, but there is no way that it justifies the lines that you all seem to think it does. It also has absolutely nothing in common with fresh chicken tossed in flour and egg and other seasonings then fried in Crisco or Fluffo in a black cast iron skillet that is well seasoned. If anyone thinks this is really good chicken then I'm going to suggest that they've never had really good fried chicken.

Incredible that so many of you will jump on a bandwagon!

It doesn't seem to matter to anyone on here that standards have changed this much, nor is there any apparent interest in finding what something use to, what it really SHOULD taste like. Unbelievable. And this is supposed to be for people who are passionately into food.

I really am on the WRONG board."

Perhaps, but that should have been expressed privately, or just acted upon by leaving, and is a choice everyone has to make for themselves; it really shouldn't be discussed in a thread about the merits and mystique of a certain chicken place. Malawry summarized my feelings nicely in an earlier post, everyone here, Joe included, has a lot to share should they care to engage as a member of this community. But that engagement works both ways and doesn't include judging the community.

That might not make us the right board for you, but that would make us eGullet. Back to the chicken please.

[rachiesarah]

golly, i think i am going to have a moment here...

I LOVE YA'LL, JUST LIKE I LOVE JULIE POWELL

sorry, i'll try to contain myself from this point on.