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Inside Pollo Norte, Northeast Portland's Hot New Mexican-style Rotisserie Chicken Joint (VIDEO)

How three Portlanders brought a Mexican classic to town.

By Lucas Chemotti

Sorry, loyal customers of Pollo Norte.

Don't mean to blow up your spot by giving the rest of the city a look into the tiny and already wildly popular Mexican-style rotisserie chicken restaurant. But it's time.

The rest of the city has to know about Norte's organic birds slow-cooked on an imported Valmex gas-powered rotisserie with a light coat of nutty achiote powder, lime juice, chili powder and sea salt. Portland deserves to know how those birds slowly leak their spicy juices onto a bed of leafy cabbage.

We asked Kelly Shelton—one of three co-owners, and one of two lead chefs—for a tour of his shoebox-sized storefront, formerly boarded-up and abandoned, now handsomely appointed with steel stools and wood counters.

Here's him talking about the idea, which came from an epic chicken tasting in Mexico City. 


WWeek 2015