Creator reviews restaurant's signature dishfrom @johnny.novo

Transcript

I love roasted chicken so much because it's one of the few dishes that truly belongs to everyone. The ingredients stay simple, best every culture puts their own fingerprints on it, turning the same humble bird into something completely unique wherever you go. All this to say, I was excited to try the highly recommended Athenian room in Chicago because I hadn't had a Greek bird in years. I ordered their iconic chicken kalamata, which ran tier. It's just a half chicken over a bed of thick cut Greek fries. When it arrived, it looked like what I imagine the first meal will be when I get to the gates of hell. It was piping hot with a tight, crispy, golden brown skin, invisible season. In all my boots on the ground research, I've never heard an audible crunch from a crispy chicken skin like this. Pair that with a tendy, juicy, and flavorful leg and thigh, this bird had me float. Right as I was settling in, thinking I may have just found the elusive 10 out of 10 bird that broke the Richter scale, a criminally dry breast revealed itself. Dipping it in the olive oil and juices at the bottom of the plate helped combat the dryness, but I've always judged a bird pre sauce or additions. I'll be honest, as I pivot toward the restaurant birds, my scoring system is much less dialed in than the grocery tier, so this is a tough one to score. I'm gonna follow my heart and say 8.6. The amount of motion in the leg and thigh were truly off the charts, but tier Sahara Desert dry best was really a round stop. It's still easily worth the $16 I paid, and I'd recommend this to anyone when in Chicago, but a truly elite bird needs to have a tender breast. Follow me for worse.