Bowie Restaurant Project: (62) Lima's Chicken

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Lima's Chicken, 3552 Crain Hwy.
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 10/8/2013
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 3
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars


When I found out that Lima's was open, I stopped by to grab a menu after picking up lunch elsewhere. With the smell of roast chicken suffusing the restaurant, I questioned my decision to eat anywhere else.

Since then, I've visited Lima's three times in a week and a half. That number, however, is artificially lowered, because my first visit was for takeout. Christina was concerned that the chickens might be small, so we got their "Family Special" -- two chickens, four side orders and a 2-liter bottle. They weren't -- we had leftovers for a week. They were delicious, as were the side orders -- plantains, yucca, beans and fresh veggies. My only complaint is that somehow we ended up with beans instead of rice and beans.

My next visit was to pick up some tailgating food for the Redskins playoff game. For the first time, I got to try "salchipapas" -- a Peruvian concoction that mixes hot dogs, French fries, ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise. It was exactly as disgusting and delicious as you might expect. I don't usually like mayonnaise, but this was closer to a high-quality European mayonnaise than something out of a jar from a supermarket. I think salchipapas are now an indispensable part of the tailgating experience for me.

Salchipapas!

At the suggestion of the guy behind the counter, I ordered the Pollo Saltado, described as "Chicken with onions and tomatoes served over french fries and rice." I wasn't expecting much difference from the charbroiled chicken, and I thought onions and tomatoes weren't the best sides. What I ended up with was chicken that had clearly been cooked together with the onions and tomatoes and blended the flavors together in a delicate and interesting way.

My third visit was with two colleagues, and we ran into another co-worker once there. Three of us got the 1/4 chicken (comes with two sides), and the fourth got a gyro. Everyone was very happy with their meals.

Peruvian roast chicken

The menu seems to divide into three parts. There's the charbroiled chicken, which forms the heart of the restaurants. At $6.25 for a 1/4 chicken, prices are better than Boston Market, the food is more interesting, and the chicken seems to be higher-quality. Then there's the Peruvian specialties -- not the heart of the menu, but you have the option of getting actual beef heart skewers (Anticucho Corazon). Entrees range from $8.99 to $14.99, so you won't be getting as much of a bargain. Still, if the Pollo Saltado is representative, these items are worth trying from time to time. Finally, there are some non-Peruvian items on the menu -- salads, burritos, tacos, even a hamburger. I could be wrong, but I only can see being tempted by items containing chicken. I'm not sure why I would order a burger here.

Note that the menu board doesn't entirely match the printed menus. I couldn't find the salchipapas on the menu board, and there's a $5.49 lunch special that wasn't up there either.

Lima's is well on its way to becoming my favorite Bowie restaurant. I said in May, "Bowie needs a Peruvian chicken restaurant." Now we have one, and it's great. I was torn between 4.5 and 5 stars. To me, a 5-star restaurant is one worth coming to Bowie to eat at. Although there are other Peruvian chickens in Maryland (Laurel, Annapolis and Beltsville being some relatively nearby ones), I think Lima's comes close to meeting that standard. I haven't eaten at all of its competitors, but this is definitely the best I've had. Maybe I'd want to see a full-scale restaurant with table service to award 5 stars. Or maybe I'll look back in a few months and wish I had just gone ahead and given it 5 stars.

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Bowie Restaurant News

Freestyle Fish N Chicken in the Bowie Plaza shopping center still has blacked-out windows, but if if you peek in, they look ready to go with a "Grand Opening" sign in place -- that's been true for about three weeks now. I'm not sure what the holdup is.

A peek inside Freestyle Fish n Chicken