Most people have never heard of Pioneer Chicken, but if you grew up in LA during the 70’s and 80’s, this company actually held its own against its Kentuckian counterparts. Sadly now, the once mighty chain that boasted nearly 100 stores has been relegated to just four grungy locations. Their trademark “crispy chicken” was so popular that KFC had to adopt an inferior copy to try and compete. Unfortunately, circa 2008, the chicken is just not the same, but their insanely good BBQ sauce – equal parts tomato puree, spices and crack cocaine – get me to go in once in a while. Extra BBQ sauce please!

I never said “best chicken” in Los Angeles. And I highly doubt that there’s anyone in this world kind hearted enough to claim that Church’s Chicken is good. Even begrudgingly mediocre would be a generous assessment of the chicken. It’s like they threw grease on the menu and decided to flavor it up with a smattering of chicken. That being said, if you’re hurting for money, you can’t get it any cheaper than Church’s. Last time I checked, the 12 legs and thighs bucket was $7.99.

I think Roscoe’s is extremely overrated, but you can’t help but shake your head in grudging admiration when “Big Mama”, the restaurant’s matriarch waitress, thumps random diners on their heads for having their elbows on the table. For me, it’s definitely a “go once” sort of place, but being in the restaurant industry myself, it’s nice for my bruised ego to know that there are places where the staff can abuse diners and still maintain a profitable business.

Zankou Chicken’s like a torrid night out on the town. I always feel slightly hung over the next day and I smell like three day old cat litter after, but I keep on doing it because it’s so good. The chicken is juicy and the skin is extremely crispy, but the raison d’etre (did I use that phrase correctly?) for Zankou Chicken’s huge popularity is their amazing garlic paste. Honestly, I think it’s lard mixed up with seasonings and garlic, but it is definitely, definitely groin grabbingly good. Their reasonable prices don’t hurt either.

It seems that most of the rotisserie restaurants in LA serve ethnic varieties of chicken, so it’s nice to know that there’s a chain that marinates their birds with a Californian twist. Not surprisingly, you see a lot of Hollwood types here and this place is always teeming with movers and shakers yelling, “BUY, SELL, BUY!” into their cell phones while in line ordering.

To mix my zoological metaphors, this chain is definitely the 800 lb. gorilla of fried chicken in America. It also goes without saying that it’s pretty damn delicious. Word from one of my friends is that most of the secret blend of herbs and spices is tomato soup powder thrown into the batter. However, my friend also claims to be able to levitate a la David Blaine, and his attempts at this feat were so laughably bad that everything he says has since been thoroughly discredited in my eyes. looking around for tomato soup powder

Best Southern style fried chicken here in LA, all pretenders to the throne be damned! Plus, Pulitzer Prize winning food critic Jonathan Gold has given it his three thumbs up, and as my girlfriend knows, my man-crush on Jonathan Gold has no limits. The converted bungalow gives the place a great ambiance as well as the newly obtained liquor license.

More of a chicken sandwich joint than a pure chicken play. Still, their sandwiches are really good. Apparently the peanut oil they use to fry the chicken makes all the difference. That and sweet tea. Yum!

Even though their “C” rating from the health department is displayed prominently above piles of wood stacked five feet high (can’t be sanitary) I love Pollo a la Brasa’s spit fired, smoky chicken. Besides, the health department… they’re all a bunch of haters. As an added plus, none of the employees speak English at this Salvadorean run joint, and it’s always a good time to break out the Peace Corps gringo in me and order “dos pollos con cebolla y cilantro por favor”.

Peruvian style chicken dumbed down a little for the masses, but what a green sauce! Plus you can get the saltado which comes with onions, tomatoes, rice and Peruvian style fries. They used to serve peanut butter guinea pigs here as well which were, for the lack of a better word, delicious!