El Pollo Inka by Ed Milich
		El Pollo Inka is a great SoCal Peruvian restaurant chain that is a perfect lunch stop. Scattered throughout LA’s South Bay, the restaurants feature chicken, beef and seafood-centric dishes from the Peruvian nation. The restaurant site that I frequent is on Hawthorne Boulevard, near the Torrance airport. The décor is quite bizarre. The place is dimly lit, and features numerous black light type of fluorescent artwork on the walls and ceiling. It’s something akin to what you’d find in a typical dorm room in the late 1970’s. The hot ticket for lunch is definitely one of the lunch specials. For around $6, you get soup or salad, and a lunch special. Recommended are the Lomo Saltado or Ropo Vieja. The latter is shredded chicken in a creamy sauce on a bed of rice. The latter is shredded beef over a bed of rice. Another popular lunch choice is ** which comes with French fries. From the moment you sit down, your waiter will bring you a basket of warm rolls. These guys are kind of stingy with the rolls,bringing out only two or three at a time,  so I usually have to ask for seconds and thirds. Between soup and salad, I usually chose the former at El Pollo Inca. The soup is chicken and rice based with a lime on the side that you squeeze into it before you start slurping. It’s good stuff, and dipping rolls into the soup makes it all the more enjoyable. After finishing the soup, I usually request more rolls.  For the main course, my favorite Lomo Saltado is served with a bed of rice and both an egg and an olive on the top. The thick stew of chicken and walnuts is very satisfying. It’s something akin to Peruvian comfort food! Halfway through my meal, I usually request more rolls. See the pattern here? The waiters here are often fairly surly…or maybe they’re just in a hurry to fill orders. This place packs up pretty well with locals at lunch, so get there early. 11:30-11:45 should do. It’s funny how much difference 10 minutes in arrival time makes in a place like this. It can mean the difference between a 30 second wait and a 15 minute wait for a table. I usually spend around $8 with tip for lunch at El Pollo Inca. For Latin American cooking with a little bit different bent from the typical SoCal Mexican fare, El Pollo Inca is a wonderful place to spend the lunch hour. Like all of the other unique lunch hot spots, these guys have the lunch experience down to science. This one gets a Gold Star.
	El Pollo Inka 23705 Hawthorne Blvd. Torrance, CA 90505 (310)-373-0062 www.elpolloinka.com