Amy ScattergoodLeading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4) — and probably beyond, at this rate — we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes.
37: The Island Combo at TiGeorges' Chicken.
One imagines George Laguerre, who opened his Haitian restaurant TiGeorges' Chicken some fifteen years ago, as something of an Echo Park Job. First there was the devastating January 2010 earthquake in his native Haiti, which destroyed the homes and businesses of many of his friends and family. Then, only a month later, an electrical fire destroyed the roof of his restaurant, as if catastrophe had simply changed direction. It took almost a year for Laguerre to reopen. But reopen he did, the restaurant recalibrated and rebuilt so that it seems, on the surface, as if nothing much has happened. It has, of course. Haiti still remains in partial ruins. And catastrophe leaves patterns and fissures, whether you can see them or not.
But all that is forgotten, at least for dinner, when you sit down to a plate of TiGeorges' chicken, the focal point of the menu and of the restaurant itself, the tables of which are gathered around an enormous custom-made medieval-looking spit near the restaurant's front window. (An apocalypse would probably not destroy that thing, certainly not a little ceiling fire.)
the rotisserie at TiGeorges' Chicken; Credit: A. Scattergood
Laguerre roasts all his chickens on this gothic contraption, over avocado wood, and gives you the option of ordering a halved or a quartered bird. Order the most you can manage, as there are few better roast chickens served in Los Angeles. If you pick the Island Combo — which sounds like something you'd order on a cruise ship or pick up at a beach shack or see in the background of a Dos Equis commercial; it is not — you'll be given not only the glorious chicken that you came for, but a collection of things that compliment it in ways you might not immediately consider.
Acra, or taro root fritters, fried plantains, rice and beans, a bit of dressed salad and a couple of ramekins that look innocuous but are decidedly not. One holds “chicken sauce,” which is the juice from the chicken, more or less. And the other? A mixture of raw garlic and onion and black pepper and olive oil (and a “secret ingredient,” of course) called ti malis that you might think resembles a dipping sauce but that you should just pour over the whole plate. All of it. Because it's that good.
When everything's said and done and eaten, and Laguerre has perhaps stopped by to tell you about his ongoing trips to Haiti and his foundation and his family's coffee farm there, you should order a cup of the Haitian coffee. Maybe he'll even pull the shot of espresso made from his family's coffee beans, which he roasts in the back (you can smell the coffee as you drive down Glendale Blvd.), on the Pasquini machine. Steamed milk. Notes of bay leaf and lime. Maybe get another chicken for later and be glad, as we all are in Los Angeles and the chef certainly is now, that the ground mostly does not shake and the fires (real, metaphorical) mostly are out.
Check out the rest of our 100 of our favorite dishes. Suggestion? Write us a comment.
100: Lukshon's Dan Dan Noodles
99: Cemita de Milanesa at Cemitas Poblanos Elviritas #1
98: Chichen Itza's Cochinita Pibil
96: La Cevicheria's Bloody Clam Ceviche
94: Peruvian Chicken at Pollo a la Brasa
93: Squash Blossom Quesadilla at Antojitos Carmen
92: Thai Boat Noodles at Pa-Ord
90: Furikake Kettle Corn at A-Frame
89: Live Santa Barbara Spot Prawns at Providence
88: Fried Pig Tails at Night + Market
87: Egg Salad Sandwich at Euro Pane
85: Truffle Honey-Laced Fried Chicken at Manhattan Beach Post
84: Mool Naeng Myun at Yu Chic Naeng Myun
83: Chicken Vampiro at Mexicali Taco & Co
81: White Anchovy, Tomato and Fresno Chile Pizza at Pizzeria Mozza
80: Shu Mai at Elite Restaurant
79: Tandoori Chicken at Al-Watan
78: Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding at The Hungry Cat
77: Agedashi Tofu at Izakaya Bincho
74: The Sea Urchin Tostada at La Guerrerense
73: Wood-Roasted English Peas at Tar & Roses
72: Persian Mulberries at Weiser Family Farms
71: Hunan-Style Preserved Pork with Tofu at Hunan Chilli King
70: Brisket Banh Mi at Gjelina Take Away
69: Yukhwe Bibimbap at Oo-Kook Korean BBQ
68: Lamb Pie at Beijing Pie House
67: Son of a Gun's Uni and Burrata
66: Pastrami Reuben at Art's Delicatessen
65: Beef Koobideh at Kabab Mahaleh
64: The Whipper Burger at Hawkins House of Burgers
63: Slippery Shrimp at Yang Chow
62: Whole Channel Island Red Sea Urchin at Water Grill
61: Going Dutch Panini at Bread Lounge
60: Huckleberry's Green Eggs & Ham
59: Pickled Watermelon Salad at L&E Oyster Bar
58: Spaghettini with Abalone, Pickled Cod Roe and Truffles at n/naka
57: Brown Brown Bread Ice Cream at Scoops Westside
56: Smothered Chicken at R and R Soul Food
53: The Sycamore Kitchen's Double BLT-A Sandwich
52: House Wonton Soup at China Café
51: Almond Croissant at Proof Bakery
50: The Southern Fry at Plan Check Kitchen + Bar
49: The Dodger Dog at Dodger Stadium
47: Lucky Baldwins' Traditional Full English Breakfast
46: Edomae Tendon Bowl at Hannosuke
45: The Pescado Zarandeado at Coni'Seafood
43: Raw Kale Salad at Elf Café
42: Steak Tartare Tacos at MessHall
40: Sicilian Slice at Pizzanista
39: Grilled Baby Goat T-bone at Mozza's Scuola di Pizza Salumi Bar
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