Months back, I heard about the family owned and operated El Autentico Sinaloense Pollo Asados, on Buford Highway, as a place we needed to try. We actually attempted to go there, I think on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and they weren’t open, so they stayed on “the list”. This Saturday, we were heading to town for lunch and I said, “want some chicken?”. Answered in the affirmative, that led us here.

They were DEFINITELY open today, as we struggled to even find a place to park. Then we went and stood in line inside. Let me set the scene – there’s a HUGE column of smoke rising, that you can see as you exit as 85. The parking lot is semi-paved and next to a small yellow building is a tent, lined with smokers.

As we entered, I couldn’t figure out the building design – the entire core of the restaurant is two steps down from street level. This leaves a ledge that runs the front of the restaurant, with steps up to a tier with tables in the window. The feet in the picture above are attached to bodies stretching out the door, waiting to order. I’ve been told that the building once housed a popular bar and that might be the reason for the sunken floor.

We stepped up to the counter and worked our way through ordering (most of the signs were bi-lingual, but many of the signs were uni-lingual – and not my lingua). The chickens are served as quarter, half or whole chickens, with rice, tortillas, a grilled half onion, a “salad” and a lime slice.

We ordered a half chicken each. That was rookie mistake. This was a LOT of food. As to the chicken, it was exceptional – moist and tender with enough smoke flavor just to know it was there. I’m not an onion fan, but it received rave reviews from across the table. The rice was very flavorful also. We had ordered beans also, not understanding that it was a side. But when it arrived:

When the beans showed up with the sliced up hot dogs, we were a bit worried perplexed. Were these Sinaloense beanie weinies? We won’t be ordering those again. I had also ordered birria beruga tacos, thinking I might need more food….

This led to a comic moment (to me) when my beloved asked for a bite of the taco. I was surprised, but sliced her a bit off. She took the bite and didn’t seem to like it and I said that I was surprised as I knew she didn’t like lamb. You see, she thought I had ordered beef…

While talking with the guys at the next table, we figured out part of the reason for the crowd – on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, when you buy a whole chicken, you get a half chicken free. This is an incredible deal – a roasted chicken and a half, plus rice, tortillas and grilled onions for well under thirty bucks. We’ll be back and you should go, too. And don’t forget to try all of the sauces.

As we were leaving, I stopped by the tent and asked how many chickens they cooked on a Saturday. After concensing among themselves, they came up with 500. I think the number is possibly twice that.