Inca and Fiesta Chicken recently opened across Wyckoff Avenue from each other. Neither stand up to similar offerings on the same street. — Photos by Scarlett Lindeman
Two more rotisserie chicken joints have opened on Wyckoff Avenue. Inca Rotisserie Chicken and Fiesta Chicken’s spits are up and slowly revolving, beckoning passersby with orange-tinted chicken.
On Wednesday afternoon Inca is burbling with Wyckoff Heights employees, neighborhood residents, and kids taking advantage of their dirt-cheap lunch specials — $3.50 for ¼ chicken and one side. A garlicky odor wallops the senses when you walk in, as do the cartoonishly orange walls, and a TV blasting a Spanish news channel. There are a couple of off-kilter tables, a guy hacking apart chicken bodies to the left, and a line out the door.
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Inca’s chicken is succulent and dripping with grease though the predominant flavor seems to be salt. Added flavor comes with an incendiary green sauce, which you have to ask for at the counter. There is an impressive roster of sides including rice dishes, sweet potatoes, green fried plantains, sweet and dark maduros, even sautéed mushrooms. Covered loosely in plastic wrap, the spread seems like a lunch service in an elementary school cafeteria.
On the other side of the street, half a block down is Fiesta Chicken, with a Puerto Rican theme. It has a similar steam table setup as Inca but without the customers — when I visited, Fiesta was dead. You can order fingers of soggy yet appealing fried yuca, peas, and bland rices. The chicken has visible spices and seasonings, touched with black pepper and caramelized garlic. It is drier but with more flavor and more money — $5.15 for a half chicken and two meager sides.
In the boulevard of rotisserie chickens that is Wyckoff Avenue, the aromatic spit-cooked birds can command fierce loyalties. Many of the more well-established Latin American-style chicken joints offer delicious birds with competitive pricing, like poultry packages that feature whole chickens, pounds of rice and beans, starchy tubers, salad, and the requisite two-liter of Coke, which allow the cash and time-strapped populace to feed multiple mouths (or single mouths multiple times), for under $20. Both Inca and Fiesta need to up their game — there are much tastier chickens to be had.
chloe June 25th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Up the street a bit on Stanhope (just off Irving), is Chimu.
Peruvian style, and beats both of these out of the water.
Amauri June 26th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Inca has been around for years, originally located next to the check cashing spot on wychoff. They had burnt down along with The Fish Market that was on Wychoff which currently houses a Barbershop, and the Metro PCS Store. Happy they moved back to Bushwick after leaving to Queens for a couple of years.
chillinoncentral June 28th, 2010 at 8:26 am
Tried both. To be fair, Inca’s sides were better (especially the rice, which is tastelessly bland at Fiesta), but the Fiesta chicken was better. Regardless of the slightly higher cost, I’d vote for and suggest Fiesta.
lauraofbushwick July 9th, 2010 at 2:16 am
i grew up eating Inca’s chicken until unfortunately, the place burnt down three years ago. I’ve been craving for their so moist and tasty chicken and glad they’re back! let’s not forget to mention about their fresh garden salad and my favorite fried sweet plantains. by the way, don’t know what their secret is but their sweet plantains are imitably sweet and tender!
Scarlett, there’s gotta be a reason why “neighborhood residents” stand up on line to the streets to get those chickens for so many years (20 or more years?). it is not only about their cheap price but the taste gotta be the optimum reason, don’t you think??????