bb.q Chicken
Recommended by: After publishing our Bok A Bok review, we noticed another Korean fried chicken restaurant opening up in the old Radio Shack spot down The Ave.
Description on the bb.q Chicken’s website: Established in 1995, bb.q Chicken’s visions to always provide the most delicious and healthiest premium chicken in the world. bb.q Chicken is continually motivated to prepare and share only the best flavors with you as our brand name.
Neighborhood/Type: University District
Address: 4223 University Way Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: Golden Original Chicken, Kimchi Fried Rice, Secret Sauced Chicken, Cheese Balls.
Comments: The Ave in the University District has become ground zero for Korean fried chicken- There’s Bok A Bok, Chi Mac Chicglet and now, bb.q Chicken.
bb.q Chicken has been in rapid expansion mode after opening over 1000 stores in Korea. They have a facility dedicated to research, development and franchisee education called, Chicken University.
They’ve become so ubiquitous in Korea that bbq.Chicken has been prominently featured in many Korean movies and TV shows. They’ve now set their sights on the rest of the world with a lofty goal of opening 50,000 franchises around the world by this year. One of which just opened in the University District.
“WE NOT MAKE CHICKEN; WE MAKE THE DIFFERENCE” – bb.q Chicken
bb.q Chicken specializes in fried chicken, so you may ask, why is it called, “bb.q”. Don’t let the name fool you. “bb.q” stand for “best of the best quality”
The various types of chicken include spicy, honey garlic, soy garlic, cheeseling. In addition to whole chicken(20 pc), half chicken(10 pc) and wings(8 pc), they also have chicken sandwiches. They also have a few roast chicken options and sides such as fries, kimchi fried rice and cheese balls.
We ended up getting the “half and half” of the secret sauce and golden fried chicken at $27.99. We also got a side of kimchi fried rice and complimentary cheese balls(holla!).
The chicken was decent. The secret sauce was a sweet and a bit spicy. It reminded us of a gochujang flavor you might find in bibibop. The golden original fried chicken was crispy and juicy and well seasoned, but the pieces are a bit on the small side.
The cheese balls were sweet with savory cheese and had a consistency similar to mochi. Best of all they were free.
This is your quintessential simple Korea fried chicken place for college students and optimal for sharing. If we’re being honest we prefer our local Korean fried chicken spots on The Ave, Bok A Bok and Chi Mac a little better, but we’ll definitely try some of the other flavors and give it a chance.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 3.75
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 3.75
Bang for the Buck: 3.00
Overall: 3.75
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: We mentioned the Chi Mac comparison, so we’ll visit this other Korean fried chicken spot on The Ave
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****NOTE: This review was done prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, things are much different at the moment, but we hope things will get back to normal soon and hope you will continue to support these local businesses****
La Conasupo Market
Recommended by: In our D’La Santa review we mentioned La Conasupo Market in our list of Mexican restaurants in Seattle.
Description on the La Conasupo Market’s website: They ain’t got one.
Neighborhood/Type: Greenwood
Address: 8532 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103
What we ate/drank: Barbacoa Taco, Carnitas Taco, Asada Taco, Carne Asada Quesadilla.
Comments: As we have mentioned before there are three tiers of Mexican restaurants in Seattle.
- The fancy modernish ones like Barrio, Mezcaleria Oaxaca,
Chavez(RIP), Fogon Cocina Mexicana, Poquitos, Pablo Y Pablo - The mid-tier ones like D’La Santa, La Carta de Oaxaca, El Quetzal, Casco Antiguo, El Borracho,
418 Public House(RIP), Senor Moose - The hole-in-the-wall cheaper ones like La Conasupo, Mendoza’s Mercado, Taco Chukis, Gorditos
This is our 200th post on Seattle Unexplored and La Conasupo Market is a fitting review for such a milestone as it’s one of our favorite eateries in all of Seattle and bonafide secret.
Of all the “secrets” on this blog, this is the one I’m most scared about being “discovered”. What makes La Conasupo Market a secret. First it’s located in the back of an unassuming Mexican general store. It doesn’t stand out while your driving down Greenwood Ave, because it’s one of a long line of businesses located in the area.
Parking is hard to come by around here, so the only way you’ll find La Conasupo Market is if somebody tells you about it or if you happen to be walking in the area and accidentally stumble upon it.
As you enter the door it looks like it’s just a normal general store, but if you head all the way back you’ll see a small restaurant with a few tables in the back. We’ve never actually eaten here. We normally do take out and eat at home, but we often take it down the street to Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery and enjoy our meal with brews.
Our favorites are the tacos and the La Conasupo Market tacos actually made Our Top 15 Best Seattle Dishes of 2018 post and came in at #5. Here’s an excerpt from that post:
5. La Conasupo – Carne Asada and Carnitas Tacos
Take a look at these bad boys in the pictures. Each dish pictured below is just two tacos! If you take this home and have some extra tortillas you can easily turn this into 4 or 5 tacos. These are definitely the best tacos when looking at bang for your buck due to the portion size, but these are also the best tasting tacos in Seattle. I defy anybody to name me a better taco in Seattle.
As mentioned in the excerpt above, these tacos are huge. Not only are they huge, but for what you pay, it’s a total bargain. And not only are the portions huge and a bargain, but they are yummy as hell. Ordering just two tacos will have our family of four happily fed and full without breaking the bank.
Quesadillas are another option. Like the tacos, the quesadilla is huge, a bargain and yummy. It’s the perfect dish for sharing. Whenever we meet friends at Flying Bike Coop for beers and bring back a quesadilla from La Conasupo Market, their eyes widen in astonishment how big it is and then they start tearing off pieces of it and stuff it in their mouths.
Truly one of the best kept secrets in Seattle. Whenever we mention La Conasupo Market, most people are aware of it, but have never been there because they think it’s just a general store, not knowing what deliciousness lurks in the back of the store. Us Seattleites also know how badly we are lacking in really good, authentic and reasonably priced Mexican food. Check them out, but don’t spread the word. We want this to remain a secret.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.00
Service: 5.00
Food/Drinks: 5.00
Bang for the Buck: 5.00
Overall: 4.75
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
-
- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future:
Related Articles: