Chicken, potatoes, and gravy together make up many gratifying meals. So Chicken N Chips in Atwater Village has gathered a team of rotisserie chicken with gravy and fries, on a mission to merge homemade comforts and fast casual convenience.
It’s a combo served more commonly outside of the United States, as Chicken N Chips co-owner A.D. Dolphin discovered in Adelaide, Australia, where he played professional basketball. Chicken and chips spots could be found around every corner there, and A.D. enjoyed it as much as the locals, if not more so. “I found a place when I lived there that I loved so much, I went there every day,” he said.
Over time, the dish fed his appetite and aspirations of bringing the concept back home with him to Los Angeles. “I bought the domain name over 10 years ago, and we opened it just now,” A.D. explained.
Chicken N Chips opened for business on Fletcher Drive last November, offering a menu of roast chicken combos through a walk-up window, with a spacious parking lot to accommodate pick-ups. Also on the menu are salads, sandwiches, and wraps—all made with the same succulent meat that comes directly out of the rotisserie oven.
And to accompany your chicken entree are the English-style chips—those thickly cut french fries perhaps better known for the role they play in dishes of fish and chips. Though roasted chicken isn’t often paired with chips, A.D. saw it as a way to offer a healthier alternative to fried chicken with fries. “We try to give everyone a healthy product, make it as healthy as possible,” he said. It’s a focus he’s had since his days as a pro athlete and in his concurrent role as the CEO of DHerbs, Inc., an herbal supplement company headquartered in the same building.
A.D.’s restaurant partner, Chris Jones, acknowledges that their approach to an LA chicken joint is less conventional. “We wanted to do something different,” he said. “The unique thing about this type of chicken restaurant is that everything is made from scratch. There’s nothing frozen. It’s all fresh produce. And I think that’s what makes it so tasty is because we make everything so fresh.”
At Chicken N Chips, free range chickens are rubbed with a house recipe of peppery orange spices. Each bird is roasted for an hour and 40 minutes, enough time to allow the chicken to expand with juice and then fall off the bone when carved. The chips are made from freshly cut potatoes, which get cooked twice until they’re fluffy and steamy inside without feeling greasy.
And then there’s the gravy, the condiment of choice at Chicken N Chips for both the chicken and the chips. “Usually people use hot sauce or ketchup or BBQ sauce. But our sauce is our gravy,” said Chris. “The gravy on top of the chicken and fries is different. A lot of people haven’t had that before.”
Both blonde and brown gravy options are rich and smoky, made with housemade chicken stock. The darker gravy has a zip of worcestershire sauce, the lighter is reminiscent of Southern sausage gravy, minus the sausage.
The rotisserie chicken meals at Chicken N Chips come with a quarter portion (legs and thigh) or a half portion (leg, thigh, and half breast). Both meals include chips, gravy, and a cup of stuffing made with cornbread, chicken stock, herbs, and a mirepoix of celery, onion, carrots, and dried cherries. “We always say we’re serving Thanksgiving in a box. Instead of turkey, it’s chicken,” Chris said.
For sandwiches or wraps, you can choose dark or light meat. Each sandwich gets a generous amount of piping hot chicken, embellished with one of the housemade sauces: truffle aioli or Sriracha aioli. “We make our sandwiches in under 4 minutes,” Chris described. “We carve the meat off the bone, we toast the sandwich. The brioche bun, when you toast it, it gets really soft and it pairs with the chicken and the sauce so good.”
Even the chicken salad is whipped together on the spot. “It’s a scratch kitchen,” he added. “We make our own chicken salad and the dressing. We pull the chicken off the bone and we mix it in with the dressing.”
While Chris manages the restaurant, he credits the food to Chef Jordan Davis, a Washington D.C. restaurateur with deep experience in Southern cuisine. “He’s been cooking for over 20 years, he’s opened restaurants all over the country,” Chris said. “We hired him to create all of our recipes, and he came in and trained the staff. He’s amazing.”
In the coming weeks Chicken N Chips plans to set up outdoor seating so customers can dive into their meals right away. “We wanted to do something that was comfort food, but you could also grab it and go, too,” Chris said. “And it’s a hearty meal. You’re full. We want to make sure you’re satisfied.”
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