A bright red awning helps you find Kokio Chicken, which is partly hidden from the street by bushy trees. As you enter, you can't see that another room opens off the back, making the restaurant roomier than the narrow storefront suggests. It's a quiet, comfortable place to sit (above) while you choose from a long list of chicken dishes.
Just two months old, Kokio is Korean, so its spicy BBQ chicken (above) is red with gochujang. But crispy fried chicken is as plain as if it had come from a Midwest diner. And perhaps crunchier, because it's fried to order.
And there's Cajun chicken, South American chicken, Buffalo wings, a chicken Caesar salad and sides of coleslaw, corn salad and French fries that you don't connect with Korean cuisine.
The best deal is the $6.99 combination plate, which lets you choose from 10 main dishes (oddly, pork cutlet is among them). The choices are crispy fried chicken (above) or wings, soy sauce chicken or wings, the spicy BBQ chicken, chicken cutlets, and three more in Korean only.
These come with rice or French fries and a coffee shop-style lettuce salad. Instead of banchan, the accompanments are a Mexican fresh salsa and a really delicious green sauce that resembles Indian cilantro chutney. The one nod to Korean tradition is sweet and sour radish cubes. Spicy rice cakes, one of Korea's most popular snacks, are on the menu, but they're not part of the combinations.
Kokio could be your go-to place for party platters. You can order a chicken dinner for five to 10 people for $95, including whole chickens, lots of wings, drumsticks, sides, a couple of salads and the spicy rice cakes, and bigger assortments for more people--just in time for Super Bowl Sunday.
Kokio Chicken, 371 N. Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90004. Tel: (323) 464-7000. Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
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