Black Angus Dish: Spiros’ Chicken
The Dish: Spiros’ Chicken
The Origin: Created by and named for former Chef Spiros Boubas
Why People Love It: Behold perfectly crispy, herby, lemony chicken skin and flavorful, slow-cooked tender meat served with potatoes that have been simmered and lightly crisped in the chicken’s juices. It’s not fancy. It’s just straight-up delicious, home-cooking style food mamas and yayas would approve of.
The Story
Chicken, olive oil, oregano, salt, pepper, lemon and potato wedges. That’s it.
Sometimes the most uncomplicated preparations with a short list of humble, fresh ingredients make the best dishes. That’s the case with Spiros’ Chicken at Black Angus Restaurant, which recently moved from its long-time location at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront to a sophisticated and stylish remodeled space in Great Neck Village Shopping Center on Great Neck Road.
Former Chef Spiros Boubas combined those ingredients with a whole lotta love to create a classic entrée that’s become a menu staple inspired by Cypriot-style cooking—or simple Greek comfort food.
Christopher Savvides, who now runs Black Angus, gets a little choked up when telling the story behind this dish and its creator, who worked for the restaurant for two decades before he passed away in 2022. “What he did was absolutely incredible. We can’t quite do it justice. But we do our best,” Christopher says. “He could make anything taste great. He nailed it. It’s iconic.” Naming the dish Spiros’ Chicken was a way of honoring him and sharing that history with the community.
How It’s Done
A skin-on half chicken is dressed with good olive oil, oregano, salt, pepper and lemon and slow roasted at 350 degrees with a little bit of water in the pan—so the chicken (preferably an organic, free-range bird) is “almost braised,” says Christopher—until the meat is practically falling off the bone. But the real secret is in cooking the peeled russet potato wedges along with the chicken so that they absorb all that wonderful flavor as the chicken cooks. Just before serving, the cooked chicken and potatoes are quickly seared in a hot oven to get that nice crisp on both.
Serve It With…
A Michael’s Salad, named for Christopher’s dad, Michael Savvides. Another beloved menu item, this simple seasonal Greek salad comes with ripe tomatoes (Michael’s favorites come from Sugar Babies Farm Stand in Virginia Beach), feta cheese, romaine, colossal Kalamatas and sweet onion and is dressed with salt, pepper, olive oil and red wine vinegar.
Learn more at BlackAngusRestaurant.com.
Photos by Jacqui Renager/Performance Foodservice Virginia
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