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The Chicken Lady!

I actually first heard about The Chicken Lady from my neighbours Charles and Caroline! Contessa and Croft confirmed that she exists. It was then up to me to find her.

I’m still behind on work, but needed a walk. Instead of going straight to the beach, I decided to go up my street and turn to emerge on the paved road right by the basketball court. I could then circle back around and come home by the beach. Well, I didn’t get that far. Soon as I reached the basketball court, I could smell chicken roasting!

So here’s the scoop on Isla’s chicken lady. She is set up on the paved street in a stand across from and right between the basketball court and the police station. She only sells chickens Saturdays and Sundays. BOO. I was hoping the days would be spaced out a bit more. Half a chicken is 50 pesos, a whole one is 100 pesos, not much better than I pay for a pre- roasted bird in Assiniboia, but still not expensive!

HOWEVER her birds are MUCH tastier and they are a full meal, coming with tomato rice (wonderful!), tortillas, and salsa. This is what 50 pesos (4.18CAD/3.69USD) gets you from Isla’s chicken lady:

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She had me confirm how much I wanted and that the quantity was worth 50 pesos. She then hacked my half of the bird into smaller pieces to see if they were cooked and put the pieces back on the grill since they weren’t.

I had time to watch the process since it took about 10 minutes for my half chicken to be deemed sufficiently cooked. She takes raw chickens (that looked perfectly fine with good colour) and soaks them in a brine, which gives them an amazing flavour throughout (not spicy, just a little salty and yummy). They then go on a HOT charcoal grill, eliminating most of the worries about her not washing her hands between touching raw and cooked chicken.

Once the chicken is cooked, she plates it with tongs and passes the plate to a non-chicken handling helper who adds a generous scoop of rice, several tortillas, and a bag of salsa (which I haven’t tried and am going to save for the bean burritos I’ll have tomorrow instead of tonight). The meal is then double bagged and passed to the customer who pays.

I came straight home with my treasure, or at least tried to, somehow making a wrong turn. I followed the sound of my neighbours’ dang roosters and eventually emerged near the RV park, about two Isla blocks from my place.

So my first Mexican street food!

And I must reiterate how yummy that dang chicken was. It was all I could do to only eat half while it was hot and put the rest in the fridge for later!

 

18 thoughts on “The Chicken Lady!”

  2. Oooooh. I hope so!

    I am getting two meals out of my 50 pesos, so I am pleased. I am likely going to do chicken both Saturday and Sunday, putting Sunday’s away for later in the week!

    • Does your little fridge have enough room to stock up on a chicken or two to be re-heated another day?

      I was a little concerned about street cooks handling cash and food, possibly cross-contaminating in the process. However, I noticed that the food handlers seldom handle the cash.

      Good find! Two meals for four bucks is a pretty good deal. Cheaper than McDonalds by a long shot! Healthier too,

  3. Little fridge??? It’s full-size. 😀 I’ve never been able to fill a fridge that size!

    Now that I know the chicken is good, I am going to buy a lot more at one time and chop up the meat to use throughout the week!

    The rice is also really good!!!

    Once the weather turns cooler, as I’m told it will be, I’ll start making chicken stock and soup out of the carcass. I could have turned today’s 50-peso chicken into at least four meals!

  7. Cancel that, wrong topic! No proof reader.

    Yes, bargaining is expected, no offense will be taken and you cannot bargain her below her bottom line.

    • I know which thread you were actually replying on. 🙂 So I can offering her the 250 pesos for three chickens and if she says yet, I’ll know I’m not taking food out of her kids’ mouths and being a cheap gringa?

      I’m going to have to be here much longer than a week to post about this fine line I feel I’m walking, between being obviously better off than most people I meet here, but still needing a bargain.

  9. Everyone bargains. Just don’t go so low that you are insulting her but you can usually get 10 – 20% off without offending. 😉 You never know until you ask. If she refuses then you know her profit margin is thin and she is already at her bottom line. She may counter, it is all part of doing business in Mexico. Either way, she will not be offended, specially if you speak Spanish!

    • And I guess that if she recognizes me after a few times as a repeat customer, it would help…

      I am in love with her chicken and rice and trying very hard not to raid the fridge!

      • You got it. The people who really offend them are the ones that demand half price or close to it and then walk away if they are told no. The other offenders are those who try to pay a small bill with a 1000 peso note. Even if she can make change, it would clean her out of small notes and she would lose future sales.

        • I’m learning to carry small bills! 🙂 I haven’t had anyone yet who couldn’t break a 200, but I’m told I shouldn’t be waving those around.

          • Experienced Mexico travelers soon learn to break larger bills (500 or 1000 pesos) where they can – larger businesses or maybe restaurants or bars if they are busy and taking in lots of cash.

            Some ATM’s give out large bills only and that can be a problem. I never tried walking into a bank and asking for change. Canadian banks don’t likr that unless you are an account holder.

  10. My last withdrawal, I got almost all 500 peso notes. No problem, I was paying rent!

    I have walked into my bank (CIBC) many, many times to get change and only ever once was told I could have some only because I was a customer. So try CIBC next time you’re looking for change back home. 🙂

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