The World's Greatest Chicken

I like chicken. A lot. It's not the fanciest of proteins, but I love it for its versatility -- for the way you can do anything to it, add anything to it, put anything on top of it, and it's almost always delicious. So, when Kat C. and I realized that it'd been over 8 months since either of us last ate PioPio, it was a state of affairs that had to be rectified immediately (even better timing since Katie C. just told me I needed to write a new blog post).

PioPio is a Peruvian chicken restaurant (Pio is the sound a chicken makes in Peru) with several outposts around the city. It is, in a word, glorious. The food's delicious, the prices are insanely low and if you're there for your birthday they play you an awesome birthday song while bringing you a birthday flan.

The problem with writing a blog post about PioPio, however, is that I find it exceedingly difficult to put into words how I feel about it. Much like a good Belgian waffle, eating PioPio is a quasi-religious and spiritual experience. Kat asked "what do you think it is that makes it taste so good?" as she was watching me struggle to put words to "paper." And, truthfully, I really don't know.


I do have a theory, though. I think it's the sauce. This sauce is what makes the whole experience so indescribably wonderful. If I could convince PioPio to sell me enough of it, I would bathe in this sauce. In fact, my only complaint about PioPio is that they give you so little of it when you order take out. The amount of time I've devoted over the last 3 years to sitting and pondering what's in the sauce is probably unhealthy. I'm still not anywhere close to identifying a full ingredient list, but there's definitely green bell pepper, cilantro, cream of some sort (maybe sour?), and sometimes I wonder if there isn't a hint of cucumber in there as well. The green sauce can go on everything you order at PioPio, including the salad to the chicken, the rice and beans and the maduros (pan-fried ripe plantains).

And speaking of the chicken, let's talk about it. It's covered in spices that I can't even begin to identify, which marinate and flavor the chicken for hours before it's roasted to perfection. The meat is juicy and flavorful (frankly even if it wasn't the sauce is so good it barely matters), and the skin is the perfect amount of crispy without being burnt. Two thumbs up.

The sides themselves are delicious, but unremarkable. The salad deserves a special shout-out, though.  It's a pretty basic salad based with lettuce, radishes, shaved red cabbage, carrots and cucumber hiding under the arranged tomatoes and avocados. It's really beautiful to behold, and the fact that the avocados are always perfectly ripe, no matter the season, is just impressive.

Go to PioPio. Trust me on this one.