Zankou Chicken has one of the great origin stories in Los Angeles food history. The Iskenderian family brought their Lebanese-Armenian rotisserie chicken tradition to LA in 1984, and the garlic paste they served alongside it became the condiment that launched a thousand loyalties.
The paste — an emulsion of garlic, lemon, and oil that arrives creamy white and aggressively aromatic — was the subject of a famous Jonathan Gold essay, multiple investigations by food journalists trying to reverse-engineer it, and the deep personal attachment of several million Angelenos who consider it a fundamental right. The family has never given out the recipe.
The chicken itself earns the garlic paste's company. Rotisserie-roasted with an herb blend that produces a bronzed, crackling skin over meat that stays impossibly juicy, it is one of the great cheap meals in the greater Los Angeles area. A half chicken with pita, pickled turnip, and two sides of garlic paste costs roughly what a single cocktail costs elsewhere on Burbank's restaurant scene.
The shawarma — thin-sliced spiced chicken on pita with pickles and garlic paste — is the lunch option that Burbank studio employees have been rotating into their schedules for decades. The beef and lamb combination on a plate with rice pilaf is the dinner option.
Zankou is a Los Angeles institution with Burbank roots that runs deeper than most people realize. It is where this city learned to love garlic paste.
