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The Chickery is no longer opening at 3850 El Camino Real in Palo Alto, but an eager former franchisee is opening her own chicken-focused restaurant there instead.
Fowl Play Roadside Chicken, which specializes in buttermilk-fried and rotisserie-roasted chicken, will open on Monday, July 2. The restaurant’s full menu will be available, plus the first 25 customers to arrive each day through Friday, July 6, will get a complimentary dish.
Fowl Play will serve fried and rotisserie chicken in sandwiches, salads and combination plates. Photo by Veronica Weber.
The Chickery, a Washington D.C.-based chicken franchise, had planned to open its first West Coast location at the El Camino Real space. Andrea Leslie, a Gilroy resident, was set to run the franchise. But restructuring at the corporate level of the company threw up obstacles, including months of delays, and The Chickery eventually “folded,” Leslie said. She decided to press forward with her own eatery.
Fowl Play uses Foster Farms’ “No Antibiotics Ever” Chicken in sandwiches, salads and on combination plates. Sandwiches include “The Ultimate” (fried chicken, cheese, lettuce, pickles, tomato and mayo on a corn-dusted bun), “The Hot Mess” (fried chicken tossed in buffalo sauce and topped with beer-battered onion rings, Roquefort cheese, dressing, lettuce and tomato on a bun) and “The Fixin’s” (roasted chicken and dressing on a ciabatta roll). There’s also a chopped salad, Asian chicken salad, quinoa salad and Wedge salad.
All sauces and dressings are made in house.
Customers can also order half or whole rotisserie chickens and sides, including tater tots, macaroni and cheese, roasted fingerling potatoes, cornbread and elote (Mexican grilled corn). For dessert, there are dipped waffle cones, also made in house.
Every aspect of the restaurant, from its mission to menu, was developed “bottom-up” by the entire staff, according to a press release. Employees also came up with a donation program to help people who can’t pay for their meals. In lieu of tips, customers can donate “Fowl Play Bucks” to go to this cause.
Fowl Play will be open Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
To celebrate Fowl Play’s opening, the following items will be available for free to the first 25 customers each day next week:
– Monday, July 2: “The Ultimate Sammie” and French fries
– Tuesday, July 3: Asian chicken salad
– Wednesday, July 4: “The Dipper” waffle cone
– Thursday, July 5: Chicken tenders and mac n’ cheese
– Friday, July 6: 1/4 rotisserie chicken and elote