Get Your Chicken Here

Why did the chicken cross the road? To become the signature dish at two newly open Bergen restaurants.

Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?

A: To become the signature dish at two newly opened Bergen restaurants.

“This is why we’re famous,” declares the menu about the barbecued chicken options at Stickey’s BBQ in Hillsdale, descendant of a previous Stickey’s in Teaneck. At this authentic smokehouse, opened in late March by Emerson resident Larry Hage, your bird comes with a choice of four homemade sauces: traditional (sweet and tangy), Mojo (hot and spicy), Cornell (garlic-herb white sauce) and raspberry. If you’re a first-timer, we recommend trying the traditional.

Le Bon Choix, which debuted in Ridgewood in April, guarantees that despite the prevailing French vibe (and a menu sprinkled with franglais—“grilled fromage,” for example) its chickens are locally sustained and naturally raised in New Jersey. For a mere $25 here you can feed two hungry adults with a full rotisserie chicken plus two sides, two pieces of corn bread and two sauces. And these are no ordinary sides. The butternut squash is roasted with cherries, and the potato au gratin is done with Gruyère.

Chicken isn’t the only choice at either eatery, of course. Stickey’s offers a variety of slow-cooked meats, and at dessert time there are deep-fried Oreo cookies, while LBC is long on soups, salads and sandwiches and presents an individual blueberry pie. And can you guess which restaurant serves Le Burger and which the Bubba Bacon Burger?