Zankou Chicken1296 E Colorado Blvd
Pasadena
626-405-1502
The first time I tried Zankou in Montebello, I did not know about the infighting between the owners of Zankou. A LA Times story gave a brief history about the infighting. I'm not going to bore everybody with the story. But, the Montebello location was opened by a family member who is bickering with another family member. It is not listed on Zankou's website.
So I decided I wanted to try a Zankou, that is listed on their website. So I visited the Pasadena location. I went on Sunday, April 25th. This Zankou still had a sign on their door, informing customers they would be closed on Sat, April 24th, to remember the Armenian Genocide.
While I knew how important, April 24th is to Armenians, others may not. So Zankou should have put something on their website about closing on April 24th. I did not see any mention of them closing on April 24th, on their website, and I checked on Fri April 23rd.
I got the combination kebobs, tri tip beef and chicken, $10.96, that came with basmati rice, pickled turnips, hummus and pita bread.
The tri tip was pretty flavorful, the spices were different than the spices used at the Montebello location. The Montebello location also didn't use tri tip, which is a sirloin cut.
The chicken was a combination of white and dark meat. The dark meat was tender,flavorful and moist. But the white meat was dry. But a nice idea putting both white and dark meat. I liked the spices in the chicken. There are the same spices as the Montebello location.
I like the hummus, very mild flavor, smooth, and fresh. I'm not a fan of tangy, sour hummus.
But the rice was too watery. They either put to much water in the rice or they took the rice out of the pit before it was fully cooked.
I finally found out what those purple veggies are; pickled turnips. I hate turnips, so I didn't touch them, but I never knew what kind of veggies they were until today.
Service is pretty good. They have two cashiers, one for all transactions and another one, just cash only. Some people have said Zankou is cash only, they just misunderstood the sign.
Overall there are only minor differences between the Zankou in Pasadena, which is a part of the Zankou company, and the Montebello location, which is owner by another family member.
I would come back to this Zankou location to try their roasted chicken.
I saw David Allen, just as I was leaving. We got a chance to talk for a little bit.
