Dining out: BC Chicken & Ribs

BC Chicken & Ribs

Rating: ★★1/2

Where: 380 S. State

Hours: Daily 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Payment: Major credit cards accepted

Phone: 355-8866

Wheelchair access: A shallow step up to enter this older building, but otherwise accessible

BC Chicken & Ribs is a good lunch spot for a lot of reasons.

Most important, of course, the food is good, and I'll say more about that in a minute. The service is friendly, with counter workers who are quick to give recommendations and joke with customers.

Plus, this eatery is on one of Salt Lake City's most colorful corners. Walking to the place from parking a block or so away (the dearth of nearby parking is a drawback), you'll pass a funky secondhand store, a sushi bar, a private club with its windows full of posters and stickers, a tattoo parlor, a corner "mom and pop"-type grocery store and lots of other businesses that prove Salt Lake City's diversity.

Once you're inside, try to score a table by the window — ours was near the small entryway, providing 180-degree views — so you can watch the stream of legal professionals going to and from the nearby court buildings. I like to play "Which kind of lawyer is he?" (my impression: suits mean prosecutors or personal-injury types; public defenders wear sport coats) and just watch the crowds going by while I eat.

And the eats at BC Chicken & Ribs are worth a few blocks' walk, especially at these very reasonable prices and generous quantities.

When my husband and I had lunch at BC on a recent weekday, the man working the counter recommended my husband try Sam's Combo, a meaty meal consisting of one chicken souvlaki, one steak souvlaki and a pile of gyro meat, with lemon rice, salad and quartered pitas on the side.

It was a huge lunch, with the chewy gyro meat and the moist, beautifully spiced chicken highlights of the plate. The lemon rice wasn't soggy like it can get in lesser hands, and the iceberg and veggie salad was fresh under its pungent Greek-style dressing.

I went with the classic chicken and ribs combo, small size, which means a quarter chicken and two ribs, plus rice, salad and pitas. I can't imagine, after plowing only partway through this big meal, who could put down the large size. They should offer T-shirts to anyone who could.

My favorite part of the plate was the chicken, coated with spices that turned it a beautiful mahogany and gave it flavor way down into the meat. I've said before in this space that I don't care for chicken skin, but this skin, super-crisp and coated with spices, was almost (almost!) enough to make me change my mind.

The ribs seemed weirdly squishy at first, and like many of their kind, they were heavy on the fat. But they were so tender that the bones pulled right out of them, exposing lots of super-juicy meat coated with tangy barbecue sauce. It was a chore separating it from the fat, but rib fans won't be disappointed in the flavor.

Our son had the kids' meal, a leg of chicken on a bed of lemon rice. There's hardly a more kid-friendly meal out there.

Ribs $6.99-$12.99, chicken $6.99-$23.99, combo plates $7.99-$23.99, sandwiches $6.49, kids' meal $4.99.

Stacey Kratz is a freelance writer who reviews restaurants for the Deseret News.

e-mail: skratz@desnews.com