You could make a case for the diversity of the Bay Area's food scene just by focusing on roast chicken. We have more than one Jordanian roast chicken shop, as well as French and Italian roast chickens, all-American roast chickens, Hakka salt-baked chickens, and these days, a robust competition in pollo a la brasa, the subject of this week's full-length restaurant review.
Berkeley's new Brasa, the enduring Inkas, and the Bayview location of Martin Castillo's expanding Limón Rotisserie chain all specialize in Peruvian roast chicken, each with their own sauces and sides. The thing about roast chicken, though, is that finding a great one seems to be as much about luck and timing as it does about the cooks' skill with the spit. I ate a lot of ho-hum pollo a la brasa and one great chicken. Had I arrived at any of the three restaurants 30 minutes later or earlier, would my experience have been different? Possibly.
