Zankou Chicken

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Chicken plate at Zankou Chicken
Chicken plate at Zankou Chicken

Zankou Chicken is a small, family-owned chain of Middle-Eastern fast casual restaurants within the Los Angeles area. Its specialty is rotisserie chicken served with a garlic paste and pita bread. Additionally, Zankou serves other Middle-Eastern favorites such as hummus, falafel, and shawarma.

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[edit] Origins

The first Zankou Chicken opened in 1962 in the heart of Beirut, Lebanon, by an Armenian named Vartkes Iskenderian and his family. The chain was established within the United States in 1984 by his son, Mardiros Iskenderian, who had immigrated to Los Angeles, California. The first restaurant in Los Angeles is still located in Hollywood, California at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Normandie Avenue. There are now 6 other Zankou restaurants in the greater Los Angeles area. These locations are in Anaheim, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, West Los Angeles and Van Nuys. Zankou uses Old Hickory Rotisseries by Hickory Industries to cook their signature rotisserie chicken.

[edit] January 2003 Murder

In January 2003, after a heated argument, Zankou Chicken operator Mardiros Iskenderian shot and killed his sister, Dzovig Marjik, and his mother Margarit Iskenderian; he then took his own life in a double-murder suicide. It is believed that Mardiros was in the late stages of colon and brain cancer, which might have affected his mental faculties.[1]

[edit] In Popular Culture

  • In the California Court of Appeal case Iskenderian v. Iskenderian, 144 Cal. App. 4th 1162 (2006), Mardiros Iskenderian's widow Rita unsuccessfully sought ownership of the Zankou Chicken trademark.
  • In January 2008, Adam Carolla ranted on the Adam Carolla Show about going to the Van Nuys location of Zankou Chicken, where the woman working at the time refused to give him his usual order (a half chicken, half beef shawarma plate) since it wasn't on the menu. After trying to rationalize and reason with the woman that the mixed plate he wants is comprised of half-portions of two plates of the same price, she still refused. So he left and drove 45 minutes to the Hollywood location where it was promptly served up without questions. He then drove back to the Van Nuys restaurant and began yell at the woman while showing her the mixed plate. Adam then stated that he put a "pox" (or curse) on the Van Nuys Zankou Chicken (but not the Hollywood location), and it is this very "pox" that may or may not have contributed to the double-murder-suicide.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ LA EXAMINER: JANUARY 12, 2003 - JANUARY 18, 2003 ARCHIVES. Archived from the original on 2006-02-21.

[edit] External links