Baccali Chicken

Of all the Chinese cafes I've been to, I'd have to say Baccali Chicken is up there as one of my favorites. It's located on Valley just west of The Hat on Garfield. This is another Chinese cafe, but is a little less "Chinese-y" feeling than most of the others. For one thing, they have a bar so you have more beverage options. They also have TVs stationed throughout the restaurant, usually playing some sort of sports game rather than Hong Kong concerts, videos, or worse, Chinese opera.

Their signature dish, the Baccali chicken, is a tasty (but sometimes a bit salty) rotisseried half chicken, served with rice and veggies. I recommend the Malaysian style chicken, which is the same rottiserie chicken, but with curry sauce over it and the rice is a sort of saffron pilaf with raisins and other stuff mixed in.

Since we usually go here after tennis, we usually have a big group so we eat family style (and make good use of the free refills). I don't think I've had a bad menu item here, yet. Standout items include: curry chicken -- boneless chunks of chicken w/ curry sauce served in a gravy boat on the side and a big plate of white rice; chicken with coconut sauce -- boneless chunks of chicken in a creamy white sauce with toasted & shredded coconut sprinkled on top; korean filet mignon cubes -- tender cubes of filet in a teriyaki glaze; and any of the baked items, which are kind of like the Japanese-style gratin with various sorts of meat or seafood in a cream or tomato sauce then covered in cheese and served over rice. Like other cafes, they also have lots of noodle and rice dishes and my favorite preserved meat fried rice (see JJ Cafe entry for description).