What, next it will be salsa vs. sausage gravy?

updated 3:21 p.m. ET Sept. 16, 2007

HIRAM, Ga. - Robert Bowman loves his chicken, especially when it’s breaded and loaded in a fryer.

“When I go on a trip, that’s all I’ll eat is fried chicken. I just like fried chicken,” the 67-year-old retired postal worker says.

But during a recent lunch at a restaurant near his home, the poultry on Bowman’s plate was prepared differently from the Southern style he was used to. Instead of being fried, it was grilled and marinated with citrus, herbs and spices.

It’s part of a move by a California-based fast food chain to sell Mexican-style grilled chicken deep inside the deep-fried South and begin expanding beyond its West Coast markets.

“We’re giving the South, which loves its chicken, a healthy, wholesome alternative to fried chicken,” said Steve Carley, CEO of Irvine, Calif.-based El Pollo Loco Inc. (pronounced El Po-yo Lo-co).

The suburban Atlanta restaurant, which opened at the end of August, is the first Southern location for the chain, which is ranked 70th in the nation’s list of top restaurant chains based on sales according to Restaurants & Institutions magazine.

Last month, the privately held company of 340 restaurants reported a net income of $1.59 million for the 26 weeks ended June 30, a 26.4 percent increase over the $1.26 million in net income it reported for the same period a year ago. The company was purchased in November 2005 by affiliates of the New York-based equity investment firm Trimaran Capital L.L.C. and company management.

El Pollo Loco is under contract with a company led by a former Church’s Chicken executive to open 50 restaurants in the Atlanta area in the next six years. The chain also plans to open restaurants in the Orlando and Tampa, Fla., areas, in Charlotte, N.C., and in Norfolk, Va.

“We think the South is ready for El Pollo Loco,” Carley said. “We have a high level of confidence this is going to be a big winner.”

Although grilled chicken is not new to the South — it’s often found on backyard grills, a labor of love for weekend chefs — it’s not the traditional focus of Southern palates, said John T. Edge, director of the University of Mississippi’s Southern Foodways Alliance.

“We tend to argue about the foods to which we are devoted — fried chicken and barbecue,” Edge said. “Nobody’s fussing and fighting over grilled chicken in the South.”

Indeed, the South’s chicken wars tend to be of the fried variety. Some of the nation’s Top 100 restaurant chains built upon their success serving up fried chicken in the South, including Louisville, Ky.-based KFC, which is part of Yum Brands Inc., the Atlanta-based chains Chick-fil-A and Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, San Antonio-based Church’s Chicken, Charlotte, N.C.-based Bojangles’ Restaurants Inc. and Athens, Ga.-based Zaxby’s.

“The heaviest weighting of our outlets are in the South, testimony to the fact that fried chicken is a Southern staple,” said Kirk Waisner, vice president of menu development for Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits.

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