Eat Great Cheap 2015Popularity doesn’t tell you much in the world of books or film or music, but in the world of pollo a la brasa? It’s everything. The longer the line, the better the place, because high volume means the product never sits drying out in a warming oven. Sardi’s, the reigning daddy of the scene, has more turnover than a start-up, ensuring that the chicken—marinated 24 hours in a mixture of lemon juice, oregano, and Coca-Cola, then rubbed down with cumin and salt and roasted slowly on a spit over an open flame—is always hot and juicy.
Cuisine: Peruvian
Where you can find it: Multiple Maryland and Virginia locations; sardischicken.com
Also good: Pollo parrillero, a spatchcocked, grilled chicken; ceviche mixto.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
