Picosos means spicy in Spanish, says Francisco Rivera.
But his restaurant, which goes by that name, could easily be called pollo al carbon because smoked grilled chicken is the signature item.
“They’re marinated whole chickens,” says Rivera, 24, who owns Picosos with his mother, Martha Resendiz. “We slice them down the middle and we marinate them in guajillo sauce. It’s a dry chili. And we rehydrate it in water and blend it and strain it. So, it gives it a really red, vibrant color. We marinate them a few hours before we cook them.
“We just salt them as they’re cooking. We have a big smoker. So, we probably do about 20 chickens at a time in the smoker. And they’re in there for about two hours.”
Actually, charcoal-grilled chicken would be the exact translation of pollo al carbon, Rivera says. “We actually bring our charcoal from Mexico. That kind of changes things a little bit.”
They get the charcoal, or carbón, from a small distributor in Monterrey. “They bring us whole charcoal — like lump charcoal — in big pieces. It’s very nice. It burns for a long time and gives the food a nice taste. I want to say they bring it to us every three weeks. And they bring us probably about 400 pounds.”
Grilled chickens are available on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. “They go from 10:30 until probably about 4. They run out about 4 or 5. It’s actually better if you call [901-323-7003] and say you want one. And give us time for you to pick it up. We’ll set it aside for you. That’s what most people do.”
The good news for grilled chicken lovers is Rivera is planning to open a daily buffet bar in the next two to three months. “The smoked chickens will be part of the buffet and probably will come with chorizo, rice, beans. And then an open salad bar.”
His dad, the late Oscar Rivera, began doing smoked chickens in his hometown of Querétaro, Mexico, Rivera says. “He’d probably been doing it for about 15 years before we got here.”
Oscar continued to do the chickens after they moved to Memphis, and he opened his first restaurant, Chilitos, in Mike’s Express, a gas station on Macon Road, in 2006. “We got to Memphis in 2005. And it was just my parents looking for us to have a better life.”
When he was about 7 years old, Francisco began helping after his family opened its next restaurant, called Los Picosos, at another address on Summer Avenue. By the time he was 13, he was helping prep and manage the grill, which included smoking chickens. And when he was 17, Francisco was helping his dad run the kitchen in their current location at 3937 Summer.
“I love being in the kitchen. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been around it so long, but it’s something I really enjoy.”
Francisco never went to culinary school. “I just kind of learned while I worked. Since I really enjoyed it, I’d always be watching videos on cooking and things like that. Just kind of learning as I went.”
Picosos sells a lot more than grilled chicken. “We sell a lot of carnitas. That’s fried pork. Like pulled pork. And we make those every day.
“Another thing we sell are these big trays of meat. They’re called parrilladas. They’re enough to feed 10 people. This comes with all five of the meats we sell: carnitas, barbacoa, chicken, steak, and marinated pork.”
The type of food they sell is not “from a certain region.” But, he says, “We’ve tried to keep it as authentic as possible. It’s more like what you would find in small stands in Mexico. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s street food, but it’s closer to street food than what other places would be. We sell things called sopes, gorditas, tacos.”
Picosos also does a lot of catering, Francisco says. “Just last week we did a catering job for 600 people.”
