Serious Eats: New York
$6.50 Quarter-Chicken and Two Sides Deal from Senor Pollo
The Senor Pollo madness started with fellow Serious Eats contributor Kathy YL Chan. A few months ago she professed her Senor Pollo love in her blog and has since then repeatedly informed me, "You can get a quarter chicken and two sides for only $6.50—it's so good!" with such zeal that if we were in a cartoon, little pink hearts would've popped up next to her face. Not being one to turn down Peruvian-style rotisserie chicken (or meals that cost less than $10), I finally got my Senor Pollo Night last Wednesday.
Along with Kathy and two other friends, we each went for the $6.50 deal. With 12 sides to choose from, you could go as healthy as salad and steamed vegetables, or fill your plate with fried starches. I went for a fried/non-fried starch combo of fried yucca and mashed potatoes with spinach. If I ever get the chance to have fried yucca sticks over french fries, I take it; I like the more substantial texture of yucca. The creamy mashed potatoes weren't bland, but didn't have much spinach flavor either; at least the green tint said, "There's spinach in here somewhere."
As for the chicken, it was moist enough and the skin was appealingly crisp. Everything tasted better with the accompanying sauces: a non-spicy parsley and oil sauce, a spicy creamy sauce (aji sauce), and a creamy garlic sauce (mojo sauce I assume, which we received upon my friend's request to use as dipping sauce for her tostones).
While you may not go out of your way for Senor Pollo, if I worked or lived near Senor Pollo (Kathy lives around the corner), I would be a repeat customer for the $6.50 deal. You can sit down, get fast, friendly service, and leave feeling satisfied, not overly stuffed.
Senor Pollo
221 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10003 (b/n 13th and 14th;map)
212-777-0362