There are 17 rotisserie chickens spread out on the table. The skin on the birds ranges from pale and caramel to burnished and charred. Some are speckled with herbs, many are trussed and two come with a wedge of citrus. One chicken, No. 11, is half the price, juicier and nearly twice the size of its peers — like Shaq standing next to any celebrity.
The San Francisco Chronicle Food & Wine section conducted a blind taste test to find the Bay Area’s best rotisserie chicken. The team fanned out across San Francisco and the East Bay, procuring chickens from restaurants, butchers and grocery stores, and then bringing them to the Chronicle newsroom. That means birds from Costco and Gus’s Community Market went up against chickens from restaurants like RT Rotisserie and Daytrip Counter, the newest in the flock.
The panel of judges consisted of myself, restaurant critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan, wine critic Esther Mobley, assistant Food & Wine editor Caleb Pershan and food reporters Mario Cortez and Elena Kadvany. On one day — internally referred to as “chicken day” — we sampled all 17 chickens at room temperature, one by one, with senior Food & Wine editor Janelle Bitker on carving duties.
We took note of saltiness, appraised aromatics and analyzed distinguishing seasonings. We loved schmaltzy, crisp skin and abhorred the rubbery ones. We wanted meat rich in moisture and dreaded when a piece was dry. “My mouth is the Sahara desert,” Fegan remarked thirstily about test subject No. 1…