Anaheim: Zankou Chicken

Zankou Chicken is a casual, Mediterranean style restaurant which specializes in rotisserie chicken. Their claim to fame is their signature garlic sauce, which is the reason I enjoy eating here.

Founded in 1962, Iskenderian family started this restaurant in Beirut, Lebanon and in 1984 opened up a restaurant in Hollywood, California.  By 2005 they expanded to Van Nuys, Anaheim, and Pasadena, West LA and Burbank.  The Anaheim location is the only Orange County location, and is located 3 miles of Disneyland in a nondescript strip mall at 2424 West Ball Road.  While all the locations share the same menu and logo, the locations are not owned by the same people.

Normally,  I get the chicken plate, which is a 1/4 chicken, and 2 sides, typically hummus, garden salad, pita and their famous garlic sauce.  For this visit, we decided to get one of their popular pita wraps, with Stephen selecting the chicken tarna, while I got their rotisserie chicken wrap. Zankou registered the word “tarna”, and described it as:

CHICKEN TARNA® WRAP: Marinated and flame broiled chicken, tomatoes and garlic spread wrapped in freshly baked pita bread.

We ended up sharing half of each wrap to compare.  Hands down the Tarna was much better.  The rotisserie chicken was a bit dry and tasteless, while the Tarna was very flavorful. The chicken was moist, and combined with the garlic sauce, it was heaven in each bite. The sandwich kept me filled all day, and the total for 2 people with soft drinks came to just over $16.