As some of you may remember, Animated Meat first came to life in 2008 as a way to document some sights that managed to slip through the cracks of most popular travel websites. You may also remember that the original website was built on Apple's now defunct iWeb. From there, it migrated over to WordPress where it met an untimely demise at the hands of Russian hackers. Many of those old, pre-2012 entries have found a new home here in the Before the Now section. I would consider these posts as my starting place as a writer, probably comparable to a musician's first demo tapes. They are very rough, but I took them all seriously and wrote each one with passion. While I would like to believe that I have matured in my abilities as a writer, it is my hope that I carry this same blind passion into all of my new efforts.

Zankou Chicken - Originally Published 2010

March 2, 2019

There are some who would say that butter makes food taste better. Possibly. Then, there is the camp that argues that anything battered and deep-fried wins the contest. Again, it’s tough to argue with that.

But here is my assertion. The finest flavors in life accompany foods prepared on a stick. If you want to test this theory out for yourself, I suggest that you take a ride over to your neighborhood Zankou Chicken. This is a place that has mastered taking meat and cooking it slowly over sticks.

What’s good? All of it. How do I know? Haven’t you been paying attention? Because it’s all cooked on a stick. Kebobs, shwarma, chicken, tarna. All of it has been gloriously skewered and roasted to perfection.