Poulette

At least once a month, A or I (or both of us) remark about how much we wish Farmers Rotisseria was still around. It was our favorite rotisserie chicken ever, and we've never had any chicken as juicy and flavorful as theirs. Not too long after Farmers closed, we lost Peter's Since 1969 as well. Why do rotisserie chicken spots keep closing?

About a month ago, we finally got a new take on rotisserie chicken in Hell's Kitchen - Poulette - which describes their spot as "very French rotisserie." We were excited. They were a small shop that appeared to have adopted the fast casual model (we need more of that here), and we were hopeful about their take on rotisserie chicken.

We were with my parents after an afternoon of summer solstice yoga so we decided to go for a healthy dinner at Poulette. It also meant we could visit for the World Cup challenge for France! We all split a whole rotisserie chicken meal, which came with four sides. 

The rotisserie chicken was seasoned with herbs de provence, a blend we have at home and love. The flavor was nice, but the chicken was on the drier side, especially the white meat. It always seems to be such a challenge for rotisserie chicken places to get the timing right, and most of the time they end up on the drier side (except for Farmers).

For our sides, we got fries, herb roasted red potatoes, string beans and mushrooms, and brussels sprouts with marcona almonds. 

The fries were crispy and very good. The roasted potatoes were fine, but not that flavorful, and the same is true of the string beans and mushrooms. I could probably make both of those at home. The brussels sprouts with almonds were much more interesting and probably our favorite side along with the fries. They were seasoned with mustard seeds and they were roasted for so long that they really picked up the flavor as they got tender.

Our first visit to Poulette was pretty good. It's a reasonable price, the chicken is okay (although a bit dry), and the sides have a nice variety. It's not Farmers (we're starting to wonder if anything ever will be), but we would probably go back and try it again.