Saucy Chick Rotisserie / The Goat Mafia

Collaborations can be hit or miss. Remember when Old Spice and Arby's joined forces to combat the meat sweats? But when collaborations do work, they can be greater than the sum of their individual parts—like what's happening over at Saucy Chick Rotisserie / The Goat Mafia. 

This East Pasadena spot is a joint venture by two Smorgasburg vendors/self-professed besties who mix Mexican and Indian flavors in ways that work. From chutney-slathered tortas to juicy, pibil-marinated chicken, the result of this collab is casual and delicious food that stands out from anything in Pasadena, or greater LA for that matter.

Saucy Chick Rotisserie / The Goat Mafia is located along a chain-filled stretch of Rosemead Ave., which makes their efficiency during the daily lunch rush all the more valuable. You can show up for a haldi cauliflower burrito wrapped in a chewy flour tortilla, or a chicken plate with stewed beans and fenugreek esquites, in the same amount of time it takes to go through a fast food drive-thru. And while this casual spot works as a quick takeout standby, there’s also a pleasant, breezy front patio where you can stretch your legs. 

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

If you're not sure what to get from the fairly lengthy menu, stick to the two specialties: smoky goat birria and juicy rotisserie chicken. You can order both of them in a handful of ways— tucked into tortas or loaded onto nachos—but certain combinations are better than others. The goat birria doesn't really shine on a plate with rice (get it in a taco), but the half chicken plate paired with any of Saucy Chick's great sauces, like the tart ambi molasses or the extra garlicky GG sauce chock full of fresh herbs, is a clear winner.

SCR/TGM (for short) isn't the first place in town to mix Indian and Mexican flavors, but we like that it goes beyond your basic chicken tikka quesadilla. There's more intention behind the menu, from the local craft beers to the quality birotes and tortillas they source for the tortas and tacos. And whether you treat this restaurant as a convenient option or a successful attempt at cultural fusion, the food here is a far more interesting (and flavorful) alternative to the standard lunch bowl/wrap/salad you're probably sick of.

Food Rundown

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Pibil Chicken

This bird has everything we look for in a great rotisserie chicken: glossy skin, meat that you know is juicy from the moment you pick it up, and aromatic flavors that seep throughout. The Mexican-leaning seasoning is citrusy and tangy, with some lingering garlic that gives it bite.

Jeera Chicken

All of the high praise we gave the pibil chicken applies to this Indian-style rotisserie as well. But unlike parents who only brag about their one child in medical school, we won't play favorites. These two Saucy Chick birds are simply different, with this Indian-style chicken's dry rub tasting smokier and earthier from its heavy use of cumin.

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Birria Plate

There's so much birria in this town, it's sometimes difficult to describe what separates great birria from the whatever kind. The Goat Mafia makes our job much easier: this Jalisco-style goat birria is superb.. There's no gaminess whatsoever, and it pulls apart effortlessly in a smoky consommé that should be mopped by a tortilla immediately.

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Torta

The yeasty, sourdough-y birote roll absolutely makes this torta. Yes, it's sturdy enough to hold big pieces of shredded chicken and copious amounts of garlicky GG sauce, but it isn't stiff enough to require gnawing with your molars. Our only wish is that we could order this sandwich “wet” dipped in the birria consommé.

photo credit: Jessie Clapp

Chaat-chos

Fusing the best parts of Indian papri chaat and nachos, these genius "chaat-chos" involve puffy wheat crisps drenched in sweet and tangy chutney, crema, and garlickly GG sauce, then topped with mayocoba beans, torn mint , pickled onion, and a thick blanket of chickpea strings. It's a lot, so you'll no doubt need a fork to tackle these, but the result is an intensely flavorful pile of soggy chips that's impossible to stop eating.

Mom's Beans

Similar to the cakes on the weird baking show Is It Cake?, these beans are not what they look like. Their pale color might bring flashbacks of cafeteria refrieds from a can, but these creamy frijoles are one of the most flavorful items on the menu. The secret ingredient hiding in the background is pork chorizo, making them extra luscious, smoky, and impossible to stop eating.

Fenugreek Esquites

If you enjoy the sweet, fennel-y taste of fenugreek, you'll probably like these esquites—that's most of what you taste in each bite. If you despise licorice-adjacent things, you can probably skip them.

Sauces

The sauces at this spot are arguably the backbone of the whole operation. From the sweet-sour tamarind molasses to the spicy macha chili oil and that herb and garlic-heavy GG sauce, these condiments bump every dish up several notches. The only weakling of the bunch is the raita, which is a tad too runny and lacks the acidity you'd expect in a yogurt sauce.