Eat This Now: Clark BBQ's BBQ Chicken

The entire wait-staff at Clark BBQ dons t-shirts claiming that the barbeque joint has the best chicken in town. So naturally, it’s a good menu choice when stopping into the small churrasqueira on Raritan Road in Clark.

Chickens are guaranteed fresh, says owner Carlos Teixeira. The restaurant only uses fresh Perdue Chickens, delivered by refrigerated trucks everyday at about 10 or 11 a.m.

The chicken is covered in a blend of spices, but the key to its taste is in its cooking, says Teixeira. The chicken is put in a wire cage on a barbeque grill and flipped so each side gets the smoky flavor. The technique, plus Teixiera’s years of experience leads to a perfectly cooked chicken. Barbeque sauce is on the side, so the chicken on your plate is all you taste.

The staff isn’t sure how many chickens are served daily, but everyone agrees it is “a lot.” It is the most popular take-out dish, and rivals ribs as the most popular in-restaurant meal. 

A whole serving is enough to feed two or maybe even three people for $13. A half portion is available for $8. Each comes with two side dishes – with a high recommendation for the rice.

At 15, Teixiera had a full-time job working in a wholesale meat purveyor warehouse. At 17, he was warehouse manager in charge of buying, selling, shipping, receiving, hiring, firing, rotating stock and “making sure the warehouse was clean everyday,” he says. The 10-table restaurant is one of four barbeques that Teixiera owns in New Jersey.