Dominican oil drum BBQ?

A few years ago I spent a few months living in the Dominican Republic working on my brother's horse farm (now closed). While Dominican food, in general, isn't really all that special compared to many of its neighbors, one thing that I do remember fondly was the numerous road side "BBQ" chicken pit stops. Basically there would be a table and chairs, sometimes a roof, but not often, a kettle for frying toastones, and a big oil drum. They would take chicken that was marinated for at least 24 hours in a oil, vinegar, herb and citrus mixture that was, I guess closest to what Jerk would be if you left out the habeneros (food in the DR is not usually spicy), and sort of smoke grill it. The effect was somewhere inbetween grilling and BBQ. The skin got a bit of char and very crisp but there was some serious smoke flavor too.

In the end you got chicken that was smokey, citrusy, herbacious, and crisp. Not a bad combo. Is there anywhere around that does this? I've seen some posts for various S.A. grilled chicken places but none really look like what was in the DR. I'm guessing if we don't have it here it hasn't left the DR.

Your post reminds me of a place I used to eat down in Charlotte called Anthony's Carribean Chicken. The chicken was marinated much as you described and grilled over a smoky wood fire, then topped with some of the tasty sauce marinade that they marinated it in. The meat was fall off the bone tender. A quarter chicken came with rice, greens and beans for under five bucks

I was never able to duplicate the dish at home though Anthony's sold it's sauce in many stores in the area.

Sorry that it's no help here in Chicago. But, if you ever find yourself in Charlotte, you're in business.


The picture below shows a sandwich made of the chicken. i can't ever say i have had it that way,

. . . and the post reminds me of chicken bbq'd in the same-type drums on the side of the road (as well as some beaches) in St. Kitts -- I absolutely love the flavor and I could not get enough of it. Although I did not get them served with tostones -- in St. Kitts, they typically served the chicken with rice and peas (beans, really), and I'd wash it down with a cold Carib.

I've never found anything like it here.

Nothing exactly like that comes to mind, though you do have Papa's cache Sabroso, which specializes in "pollo chon," or chicken cooked like lechon (marinated in mojo and roasted). Then you have the marinated/grilled chicken places that seem to inhabit the edges around the Loop and busier parts of Lincoln Park. Been such a long time since I stepped into one of those places, I can't recommend any.

Pretty easily accomplished at home on the Webber with a chicken and a bottle of Goya mojo de ajo, I'd guess. Don't forget the Presidente.

JeffB wrote: Pretty easily accomplished at home on the Webber with a chicken and a bottle of Goya mojo de ajo, I'd guess. Don't forget the Presidente.

Believe me, when I was still living in CT and had room for my offset smoker I tried to reproduce that chicken many, many times. I never could get the taste right. I could get crispy skin with smokey, juicy chicken but the overall taste escaped me. Ahh well, I'm still happy to enjoy what I have here though. Are any of the places you are thinking of in Lincoln Park near Clark and Diversy (where I work)? It doesn't have to be walking distance, jsut a short enough drive that I can make it in a short lunch break.

Presidente is the only beer that made me feel bloated every time I drank it (which is very unfortunate if you live in the DR). Brugal on the other hand... well I probably shouldn't go there...

Jeff, how is the Goya version of mojo, and where have you seen it?

I usually (insert Austin Powers joke here) my own mojo, but don't do it as often as I'd like because we don't often have both oranges and limes (and never sour oranges) in the house at the same time, kind of like evil twins. I've found that most bottled marinades are too sweet for me.

I've never had chicken this way, but when I was a kid in Cincinnati, all the church suppers were ribs cooked in an oil drum grill - something about the flavors from that kind of grill is hard to duplicate...

The Goya version is pretty good, I think. I usually freshen it up with some lime or lemon juice. Making your own, and absent naranjas agrias, I have found that tangerine juice added to the lemon/lime mixture gets the substitute to better approximate Seville orange.

Goya mojo is pretty common, I thought. I know they have large bottles of it (gallons, I think) at La Unica. They also have other brans, such as Lechonera and Kirby, which are Florida-Cuban.