Unfortunately, that is not the case. Zackie Chicken is a no-frills, good-gyro, great-service, and felicitous-valued homage to those with mouths.
Some people might be a little turned off by the huge slabs of meat impaled on rotating spikes behind the counter. Ryan sure was. But, then again, he did end up ordering a chicken gyro--so much for the moral high-ground. Just another brutal, unfeeling cannibal like the rest of us.
For those of you who have seen these "open casket" rotisseries in full view, skip to the next paragraph. To the rest of you: would you believe they actually had those amorhpous hunks of beef and chicken spinning on a big rod between a couple heating screens? They sure did. Weird, huh?
Anyway, when confronted with the menu of the recently established place of higher digestion, you would immediately notice the lack of items over six bucks. We did, and we thought that was cool, since no one pays us for doing this wonderful service we like to call Beggar's Banquet.
Indeed, Zackie Chicken does make up for their barbaric display of spinning flesh once one places an order. The way they wrapped those chicken strips in a comfy gyro blanket was enough to calm Ryan's unsettled nerves. Well, at least until he bit into it and everything came flying out the other end....
Furthermore, the service was excellent. Although there is not an inherently great demand on the skills of the employees at a deli-style, seat-yourself restaurant such as this, we found the employees to be ultimately groovy.
Andy hears that Armies of Darkness (i.e., Evil Dead III) should be coming out pretty soon. Groovy.
The owner himself came out to serve us, and he did that without even knowing we were the (in)famous restaurant reveiwers we are. Our carefully designed disguises must have worked pretty well. Right now, he's probably reading this trying to figure out whether it's a good review or a slam.
Come to think of it, neither of us caught Hellraiser III when it was out in the theatresÉ
Well, just to be concrete about it, we unreservedly recommend Zackie Chicken to anyone, but especially those with few dollars and fewer gyros. Although the atmoshpere leaves a little to be desired, the items we orderedÑtwo varieties of chicken gyros and a box of hummusÑwere quite tasty, and lacked that element of rubber tire treads that is clearly present in all Marriot warm bread products.
Ok, so now we need to give this place an award. So, to Zackie Chicken in Claremont, California, we present the coveted Chip Dip to the Undead Award.
By the way, next week we'll talk about the more important things in our lives, like how Ryan's CD's got stolen over break and how Andy just bought a new Strat (Ba-pa-badanna-ba-danna-ba-nan-na...).
Zackie Chicken is located at xxx Foothill Blvd. That's in the mini-mall, opposite the Green Burrito.