At Almaza Grill, follow the smoke for destination rotisserie chicken

Parties with mixed appetites find oasis in East Amherst’s Lebanese-and-poultry specialist

Smoky savor sets Almaza Grill’s chicken apart.

When roast chicken has become a supermarket commodity, it takes more than a baked bird to raise an eater’s heart rate.

Add fire, and now we’re getting somewhere. At Almaza Grill, whole roasters are marinated, then spun to bronzed beauty in a rotisserie, over coals. Your supermarket bird can’t compete with the smoke-touched tenderness of the Almaza chickens, and that’s even before you factor in the garlic mayonnaise that slathers on another layer of craveability.

Since 2017, Almaza Grill has won the hearts of parents heading home on Transit Road. No matter who’s eating what these days, it lets them show up with everything they need to feed the masses.

Peruvian-style marinated chicken leads the hit parade. But at Inaya and Moussa Khalil’s East Amherst restaurant, the menu’s Lebanese side means vegans and vegetarians are happy with an Almaza run, too.

Loubie bzeit, flat Italian green beans simmered with tomatoes, garlic, and spices, is vegan comfort food.

They can order a plant-based feast: not just hummus, babaganoush, and falafel, but a stewed green bean, tomato and garlic dish called loubie bzeit ($11/$16), served over cinnamon-scented rice with toasted almonds. Or mujadara ($18), rice and lentil pilaf with caramelized onions and Lebanese salad. Foul medames ($11), fava beans mashed with garlic and lemon juice, is another world vegan hit.

Carnivores can also explore kofta grilled meatballs ($25), ground beef massaged with herbs and spices, then grilled and served over rice pilaf, dotted with toasted almonds. Grilled lamb tops a Greek salad ($23), with Kalamata olives, cucumbers, and feta cheese, or centers its own platter ($27), over pilaf with vermicelli and almonds. Tahini sauce or garlic mayonnaise is offered as accompaniment.

Lebanon is part of mezze culture, where a meal often starts with an assortment of smaller snacky plates, served with bread. Dipping, scooping, and mixing your favorite pita topping is an act of edible self-expression, as diners take the edge off their hunger while preparing for the main event.

Mezze like deep-fried kibbe ($12) tuck seasoned ground beef, onions, and pine nuts into a bulgur wheat shell, coming out as golden-brown mini-footballs.

For a family restaurant, Almaza Grill has style aplenty. Consider the tableside fattoush ($14), available in-house only.

A whole pita is fried into a crispy balloon, then stuffed with salad. At table, its za’atar-dusted dome is cracked open and reduced to croutons in a tableside action scene, then tossed for plating. There’s pomegranate molasses in the dressing, plenty of sesame seeds, and a race to finish it before the crunch wears off the fresh pita chips.

Almaza’s chicken comes in just about any configuration you can imagine, from a single piece (quarter chicken $6 dark meat, $8 white), a half with two sides ($27), a whole chicken straight up ($18), or family packs (like two whole chickens, plus four large sides, $79). That’s dinner for eight for not much more than pizza prices.

Fruit smoothies – in mango, strawberry, carrot, and more – and mint lemonade (both $7) broaden out the beverage department past soda.

For dessert, Almaza Grill offers a pastry case, a rarity for a modern restaurant. Have a look on the way in to see what’s fresh today. Staples like baklava cheesecake ($8) beckon, the latter an indulgent meeting of global dessert traditions into a best-of-both-worlds finale to your evening.

If your family’s hankering for dinner and you’ve got a mixed batch of appetites, find safe harbor for your hungers at Almaza Grill. As the kids say these days, where there’s smoke, the chicken’s fire.