Pio Pio
Posted on | August 20, 2010 | 1 Comment
I love chicken as much (if not more) than the next guy so I jumped at the chance for a free (belated birthday) meal at Pio Pio (210 East 34th Street between 2nd & 3rd). Pio Pio is a chain of Peruvian restaurants that do one thing; pollos a la brasa (rotisserie chicken) & boy do they do it well! I’ve had delivery from them before, but DJ informed me that the dine in experience would be far superior.
First off, I was surprised by how small the space was; I had imagined some cavernous monstrosity filled to the brim with rotisseries, but instead I found a small (slightly tight quarters) restaurant. We started off with a pitcher of Sangria (obviously…) & dove right in & ordered the Matador Combo ($32). This is basically a sampling of everything they have to offer; a full roasted chicken, rice & beans, tostones, salchipapa & an avocado salad. Perfect for 3 to share!
The rice & beans were unremarkable, the tostones were a little on the dry side, I kinda dug the salchipapa (fries with sliced, pan fried beef hot dogs or sausage). I wish there was more of the avocado though as I’m a huge fan, still it came with salad & tomatoes as well. As you can imagine, the main attraction here was the chicken! I’m not normally a ‘breast guy’ (not with chicken anyway), but this was so moist that I resisted the urge to nab a thigh.
DJ was right when he said that eating there was totally different from delivery. Fresh & steaming off of the rotisserie, this is some of the best chicken I’ve ever had. Moist, flavorful & spiced just right. Let’s just say that we devoured the chicken…
In summation, I really enjoyed my meal at Pio Pio; the service was good (even though the place started to get pretty packed by the time we were finishing up), the sangria is pretty damn good & for $32 you’re gonna get some of the best Peruvian chicken in the city. Don’t be put off by the fact that the name of the place sounds like a laser sound effect for Star Wars, run, don’t walk, to Pio Pio!
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August 20th, 2010 @ 3:52 pm
This is one of our favorite places, and we were just there too! Glad you enjoyed it. The fried yuca is more reliable.