Pollos Asados Los Norteños reopening soon, with bigger pit

Pollos Asados Los Nortenos employee Azael Rodriguez cooks chickens over a mesquite fired grill in2013. Pollos Asados Los Nortenos employee Azael Rodriguez cooks chickens over a mesquite fired grill in2013. Photo: Staff File Photo Photo: Staff File Photo Image 1 of / 51 Caption Close Pollos Asados Los Norteños reopening soon, with bigger pit 1 / 51 Back to Gallery

Pass the chicken, hold the smoke.

That’s the goal for Pollos Asados Los Norteños owner Frank Garcia, who is hoping to reopen his popular restaurant at 4642 Rigsby on the Southeast Side within the next few weeks.

The restaurant has been closed since Sept. 29, when the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality filed a lawsuit against the restaurant for violating the Texas Clean Air Act. It was also shut down briefly in Jan. 2016, when the city revoked the certificate of occupancy, before reopening a month later.

The billowing smoke from the grilled chicken has always been the restaurant’s signature as it could be seen, and smelled, from many blocks away. But it created a rift with neighbors who cited health concerns about the air quality, as became an issue with city and state officials.

“The days of having problems (complaints about the smoke), are not going to be over,” Garcia said. “I’ve come to expect that. But we are doing everything that the state and city of San Antonio is requiring us to do. We want to do this right and get everything signed off on by the proper authorities.”

Garcia is building a brand-new cinder block outdoor pit area that is about three times larger than the original cooking space, and he said it will be outfitted with a new smoke-scrubbing system that will limit smoke emission so that it doesn’t violate the Clean Air Act.

He also said that some routine plumbing and electrical work needs to be completed.

Once everything passes the inspection process, Pollos Asados Los Norteños will be back to cooking its typical 750 to 800 whole chickens per day on mesquite charcoal for a crowd that tends to snake around the building during peak hours. The rest of the menu, which includes grilled burgers and fajitas, will remain unchanged.

“These guys are working fast. We could be up and running in two weeks,” Garcia said of the new construction process.

Pollos Asados Los Norteños is at 4642 Rigsby, 210-648-3303, Facebook: Pollos Asados Los Norteños