Lunch of the Week; Lunch of the Weak
It’s not too early to start making lunch plans for next week. I’ve already got a date with the esteemed John Estus, who makes his triumphant return to Oklahoma and Journalism on Monday.
For that date, I’ve identified one possible destination and one place we will definitely avoid.
Lunch of the Week: El Pollon de OKC, 2106 SW 44 St.
El Pollon serves Peruvian cuisine, which means you won’t get chips and salsa on your table and you won’t find fajitas on the menu. What you will find is what might be the best chicken in Oklahoma City, bar none.
Eischen’s gets all the hype for its whole fried chicken, but El Pollon will be getting my money for its whole rotisserie chicken.
These beautifully bronzed specimens are served quarter, half or whole with two sides. I took pal Justin Billinger over last week for a little story research and conversation about the future of newspaper.
If you think the newspaper industry is in trouble, you should’ve see how the half chicken we shared fared.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. We started out with the papas huancainas, a mound of simply boiled potato wedges slathered in a yellow cream sauce that looked like Indian Mango pudding but tasted like a chile patch growing two doors down once you enter the pearly gates. I don’t know what’s in this sauce, but I have a team of chefs working on it.
We also shared lomo saltado. Now lomo saltado I’ve had at various Mexican Restaurants. Zarate’s in Edmond, which is owned by a Peruvian family and serves dishes from all over Latin America, serves a nice version. At El Pollon, their version is steak and fries with a few onions, sweet peppers and roasted tomatoes thrown in for good measure. Genius.
I couldn’t help but wonder how a glorious a site this dish would be to one just dispatched from Edna’s or Cock of the Walk along with the other spirits having flown.
Much as JB and I like to solve the problems of our little world when we eat, the conversation centered around the food before and eventually within us. Can’t wait to go back.
Lunch of the Weak: Louie’s.
Here’s the deal: Burger with overcooked blue cheese crumbles, french fries from the same supplier as Freddie’s Custard Stand (not a bad thing) and an iced tea served in a plastic cup cost more than $10, not including tip.
Never again.
