Guatemalan Delight

I bet Fried Chicken is not the first food that comes to mind when you hear someone say “Guatemala”. However it is quickly becoming the food I associate with the small Central American nation thanks to Pollo Campero.

Pollo Campero is an upstart import Fried Chicken franchise that has been taking Central America by storm since 1971 and has recently set up shop near Bailey’s Crossroads. My wife heard about the buzz about this place being fantastic and attracting huge lines when it opened last year. Stories of Americans thinking the chicken was so good that they would buy a bucket of Pollo Campero to bring home from Central American airports started making the rounds. The flavor was described as out of this world and unlike any American Fried Chicken chain.

So being a lover of all things battered and fried, I had to try this place. And boy oh boy is it a good one!

This may be the best Fried Chicken on earth. Crispy dark skin, juicy as all get-out. Added to which the restaurant while set-up as a fast-food joint, has a seated served-at-your-table dining room on the side where things move at more leisurely dinner-time pace.

The side-dishes are all Central American inspired and delicious as well. Particularly the rice/peas dish and the beans with chicken sausage. To top it off they have a super-saucy salsa bar for adventurous chicken dippers.

Outside of the NoVA Latino community and certian savvy suburbanites, this place is a well-kept secret. But it is so worth a drive out there when you want to indulge in the guilty pleasure of some perfect Fried Chicken with a Latino twist.

Pollo Campero Bailey’s
5852 Columbia Pike
Falls Church, VA

or

Pollo Campero Wheaton
11420 Georgia Avenue
Wheaton, MD

Originally published on September 15, 2005.

This place is awesome. We still eat there at least once a month.