by Franklin on June 14, 2011
Eating here was just out of luck, chance, random act of randomness. I always seen this place on Vermont in Koreatown, but we needed to eat dinner in Irvine. I saw BBQ Chicken and thought I’d give it a try. I went inside, and it looked promising.
The name BBQ Chicken is a bit misleading. They don’t specialize in BBQ at all. They are more of a specialized fried chicken restaurant. Amazingly, Koreans do fried chicken well. BBQ Chicken’s fried chicken was really delicious. Not dry, not too greasy — it was just good good food.
We ordered the half and half, one regular and one spicy. The chicken here is delicious — plain and simple. The sides as salad and rice were perfect for this. The pickled daikons were perfect. It helped cut the rich fattiness of the fried chicken. Add that with some rice and side salad, it was a great meal.
Warning: If you love spicy food, I would reconsider the spicy chicken. Honestly, the spicy sauce they put on the chicken was uncomfortably spicy. It was good, nice and crispy, but this stuff was mouth torturing. Even for the advanced spicy food eaters, this would be a challenge. Hey, if you love spicy food, order it. Just remember that I warned you.
After the spicy meat sweats, I looked back on the meal. For a good price, I had a really tasty meal. Decent fried chicken and experienced some of the spiciest food ever. If you happen to be at Diamond Jamboree Shopping Center or Koreatown in Los Angeles, check out BBQ Chicken. You will regret eating it, and regret not eating it.
by Franklin on May 2, 2011
So how did I come across this chicken? It all started at work. My friend had brought some from home. I had a bite, and I was amazed. The chicken was so juicy and flavorful — not an ounce of dryness. The score marks on the drum stick made it easy to eat. This chicken was fantastic! The best part was the sauce. My oh my, the sauce. It was something so familiar, yet so different. It was a mixture between barbecue sauce and saracha hot sauce — that stuff is addicting. This was some good chicken.
No packaging, no nothing — my friend had brought this chicken in a Lock-and-Lock glass container. I asked him “Where did you get this? Did your mom make it?” He answered back, “I don’t know, I just got it from home. I think it’s from Vons because it was in a Vons bag.” I thought out loud, “there is no way in heck this is from Vons Market. It is too dang good.” Confident that the chicken was not from some super market, I was on a mission to find this chicken. It was my only goal in life.
A few days later, my co-workers went out to get some lunch. After waiting a while, impatiently at that, I realized they went out to get some chicken. Can it be? What are the chances the chicken they bring is from the exact same place as the one before? They had finally arrived. As they opened the box, my friend says, “Yup, this is it. I was talking about this place. I guess there is a place called Vons Chicken.” Finally! It is here! How silly of my friend to think this is the same place as Vons, the supermarket. He is from Canada after all. 🙂
Dipping the chicken filets in the different sauces, I was in chicken heaven. The kicker is the pickled daikon. It was so refreshing and the acidity of the daikon radish cut the richness of the chicken. It was a perfect match.
So there it is folks — Vons Chicken, not to be confused with Vons the supermarket. I had finally found it. The restaurant is Korean owned, and they cook to order. Each chicken fillet or drumstick is grilled, then finished on in the convection oven. They offer a variety of sauces and marinates for the chicken. The spicy is really spicy, according to the workers there. However you get the chicken, enjoy them. They are amazing.
