New grilled chicken restaurant features Latino and American staples

EVANSVILLE − Luck was on the line when Adrian Gonzalez, owner of The Taqueria Company And Gonz’z Steakburgers restaurants at Eastland Mall and (formerly) on First Avenue, and The Taqueria at Guanajuato Marketdecided to purchase a point of sale system from Fork and Knife POS, a Florida company.

The owner of the Fork and Knife company is Steve Waddle. Waddle is originally from Peru, although he has lived in the United States for 25 years. He opened his first restaurant at the age of 20 in Gainesville, Florida. He eventually moved to Miami, where he managed restaurants for 20 years before starting Knife and Fork POS.

“Adrian and I became good friends,” Waddle said. “When he was given the opportunity to buy this property on First Avenue, he said, ‘Steve, I need a partner.’ I saw the opportunity and I love the location.

Waddle and his wife moved from Florida to Evansville to open the restaurant. Originally, he and Gonzalez planned to keep the Mexican theme, but upon closer inspection, with a DosBros Mexican Grill opening soon on First Avenue, there would have been a total of six other Mexican restaurants within about a mile of the location. They decided to try something different, and Rocking Chicken was born.

“In South Florida, we have a grilled chicken restaurant on every corner,” Waddle said. “And you didn’t really have any here.” They come from different nationalities: Peru, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Costa Rica. So Adrian came to Florida and we went to every chicken restaurant and we had feathers coming out of us from all the chicken we were eating, and we found a recipe.

The spices in chicken and other meats are flavorful but quite mild, and a range of homemade sauces can take the meal in many directions.

Gonzales is the chef and has finalized all the recipes. If you like Rockin’ Chicken’s tender skirt steak, you can get Gonzalez’s secret blend of spices and marinade at the meat counter at Guanajuato Market in Washington Plaza.

On the menu at Rockin’ Chicken

The menu is not huge but is solid and varied. Gonzalez and Waddle pride themselves on making just about everything except Buffalo hot sauce.

Meat choices include marinated grilled chicken, wings, house smoked pulled pork, ribs, burgers and beef skirt steak. Meats can be ordered on a platter with sides, on a salad, in tacos, on a sandwich or on loaded fries.

A Philly steak sandwich is made with skirt steak, and chicken salad and chicken soup are made with grilled chicken.

The pulled pork parfait is one of the best-selling items. There’s a Latin twist to many of the sides and sauces, but diners can also prepare a meal consisting of grilled chicken with barbecue sauce and ranch dressing, mac and cheese, green beans, and potato salad.

Other sides include white rice with cilantro and black beans; mashed potatoes, fried plantains and fries. The only fried things at the restaurant are plantains and fries.

Sauces at Rockin’ Chicken

The sauces are half the fun at Rockin’ Chicken and allow the diner to take the flavor of their meal in a multitude of directions. They are:

• Barbecue and spicy barbecue sauces

• Sriracha Blue Agave – A sweet and spicy sauce made with Sriracha and sweet agave nectar.

• Jalapeno/Cilantro – A bright green pureed sauce with mild heat and tangy flavor from fresh jalapeno cilantro.

• Chimichurri – An olive oil based sauce with citrus, parsley and garlic.

• salsa

• Cilantro Ranch

• Pico de gallo – Chopped fresh tomatoes, onions, cilantro and jalapeño.

• Blue cheese

• Ranch

• Rockin’ Cheese Sauce – A version of Peruvian huancaina sauce with cream cheese and yellow chili peppers.

• Garlic aioli

• Italian

• Mild and Medium Buffalo Sauce

• Raspberry vinaigrette

• Pio Pio Hot Sauce – A medium hot chili sauce based on that of Pio Pio restaurants in New York.

• Mango Habanero

Into the future at Rockin’ Chicken

In the near future, a large brand will appear, a monthly special will be added to the menu and a row of shrubs will be planted to enclose the terrace.

Rocking Chicken

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Rockin’ Chicken opens on First Avenue in Evansville