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Review content:
Stuff a tortilla too full and watch your convenient "wrap" sandwich fall to pieces.
If you're eating and driving, that can be a major problem. But if you're firmly planted in a chair at a table, it's a pleasure. It means you got your money's worth. How can that be a bad thing?
Arizona Chicken Cafe, which will celebrate its first anniversary later this spring, packs its rotisserie chicken wraps so full they fall apart one or two bites in. Out comes the lettuce, tomatoes, rice, juicy chunks of chicken and velvety avocado hunks. Have a plate and fork at the ready.
Arizona Chicken Cafe specializes in rotisserie chicken and nothing else. They roast the birds until they are golden- brown and juicy, then they serve it up whole as a dinner with side dishes or in wraps or in salads.
You can order chicken by itself ($3.50-$7) or with side dishes ($5.50-$17) that run from tried-and-true coleslaw to rice primavera - white rice sautéed in broth with green onions, carrots and bell peppers.
The chicken dinner is a hit with young kids. Three little girls accompanying us to an early dinner on a recent Saturday proclaimed the macaroni and cheese "better than Mommy's" and the chicken "yummy." The mac was really cheesy, and the chicken was tender and juicy. But even the girls agreed the garlic mashed red potatoes were a tad dry and had only a faint taste of garlic.
On a return visit for takeout, the potatoes, mashed with their skins, were creamier and seasoned with enough garlic to taste.
On that visit, we ordered a mess of wraps, and discovered what a mess they could be.
One bite into the Rice Wrap ($6.25) and the tortilla fell apart. Rice and chicken chunks tumbled along with the romaine lettuce, avocado and tomato chunks into its foam container.
We discovered the chicken mixed well with the ranch dressing and romaine lettuce in the Arizona Wrap ($5.45) when, three bites into the meal, all the ingredients burst out of the tortilla's seams.
With each wrap - the tangy, barbecue-saucy Southwest ($5.45) with red onions and ranch dressing; the Buffalo ($5.45) with ever-so-slightly-spicy wing sauce slathered liberally; and the healthy-sounding California ($6.45), with sprouts, avocado, Jack cheese and lettuce - we became more adept at catching the fillings as they fell.
It struck us as we picked through the shredded wraps that if the tortillas were heated a tad, they might have survived the impact of overpacking.
They also overpacked the Chicken Salad Salad ($6), a bed of romaine lettuce with an overly generous serving of chicken salad that needed a dash more salt and a smidge less mayo. The salad came with fried pita chips, which were far more interesting than the advertised croutons, and more than enough diced tomatoes.
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