la.foodblogging

I’m not making allegations here, and I don’t know anything more than what I have observed on my last two trips to Zankou, but there has been a major shift in the way they package their legendary garlic sauce.

I am not sure when the change occurred. Admittedly I hadn’t been to Zankou in a while. Previously, the garlic sauce came in a little plastic container that looked like it was hand made and scooped (seen here). Now, I’m not sure what hand made is and if it really matters. It did have that small-chain feel though, and not like a mass produced condiment.

Fast forward to this year, early March. We place our order, a couple different chicken combos. Some white meat (bleh, why bother) and some dark meat (tasty flavor and texture!) As usual, the wait is short and we start to leave and make sure that they didn’t forget the garlic sauce. The woman behind the counter reaches down and tosses two containers quickly in to our bag. I don’t think twice.

At home I unload our goods. Where’s the sauce? What’s this foil covered container? Is that mayonnaise? There’s definitely something white in there and garlic sauce is white, but this looks so prepackaged, so corporate, so un-Zankou. I take a closer look (and a picture). Using the skills I learned from Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I know what needs to be done next.

I peel back the foil. Staring back at me is a perfect dollop of garlic sauce. It looks like it could have come out of one of Pinkberry’s pristine yogurt dispensers. This is all very strange, it seems overly produced, it’s the Justin Timberlake of garlic sauce.

Is there a secret factory churning out Zankou’s garlic sauce? Is Zankou going to be marketing their sauce elsewhere, in supermarkets, convenience stores and other Armenian chicken houses?

Why the foil lid? How old is this sauce that I’m eating? There’s no Born on Date. Does any of this really matter? According to my taste test, the sauce is as good as ever. Perhaps I’m making this out more sinister than it is, I’m sure that there is no conspiracy here. The foil capped sauce container is just a bit at odds with the low key, casual style I am used to at Zankou.

By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.