Nick’s Pit Stop

You’d think, when a joint’s menu is 90% chicken and its storefront windows show dozens of butterflied and spice-rubbed birds, that specialty is where it excels. Not always. Perhaps this Albany Park spin-off to Bucktown’s popular Pit Stop just doesn’t do enough volume yet, but those cooked chickens are drying out sitting on the grill, leaving us searching for a single juicy bite among the dark meat, white meat, pita sandwich and even chicken rice soup. And the cafeteria-quality mac-and-cheese and coleslaw aren’t helping matters. All this within blocks of chicken stalwarts like La Brasa Roja, Pollo Asado and Pollo Campero means that Nick perhaps should’ve stuck with Bucktown, where the competition just isn’t as fierce.