Cheeburger Cheeburger diner has been replaced with a radiant and modern Peruvian rotisserie chain, Poyoteca, located in the Fallsgrove shopping center since Aug. 3. Only a six-minute bus ride from school, the establishment serves top-notch quality chicken and a plethora of other fantastic dishes.

Customers can choose from white or dark chicken, half or whole. On its menu, Poyoteca additionally offers a variety of 17 side dishes, which can come in a small for $2.99 or large for $3.99. With a flavorful range of salty, sweet, tossed or fried, customers can select any side dish like the Aji Mac and Cheese, Plantains, Sweet Potato or Yuca Fries to complete their meal.

During the Grand Opening week for the new restaurant that was held from Aug. 3 to Aug. 7, customers could come by to get half-priced meals to kick off the opening. Junior Shana Gittleson picked up white chicken, Aji Mac and Cheese and Yuca fries to share with her family. “I enjoyed the experience of getting the food. The workers were really nice … it was fun,” Gittleson said.

Poyoteca has quite a variety of other types of entrees besides rotisserie chicken. They also serve subs, burritos, salads and gourmet bowls. Their chicken burrito, as an example, is filled with a pleasant array of ingredients: chicken, pico de gallo, cilantro, avocado, shredded cheese and a sufficient ratio of rice-to-beans. Of course, this dish is wrapped together in a warm, flour tortilla.

Freshman Allyson Shulman stopped by Fallsgrove to pick up food from the restaurant for her family. She recommends driving by to get food from the new eatery because “the food is really good and it was really easy to get,” Shulman said.

Shulman and her family collectively shared chicken and sides of plantains, mac and cheese, rice and beans for dinner. In her opinion, the beans were her favorite side because “they were very flavorful,” but “all the sides are really good,” Shulman said.

Needless to say, COVID-19 has certainly put a damper on customer’s ability to dine-in. The restaurant has a page on their website for people to order online and drive by to pick-up the food. Poyoteca workers and customers certainly do follow the Montgomery County mask and social distancing guidelines for food pick-up, as well.

Supporting local, smaller businesses like the new rotisserie will aid individual workers to rise up the financial burdens in the face of uncertainty in our country. Marketplace Senior Reporter Mitchell Hartman touched on how, from a national scale, the recent pandemic and protests emerged in skyrocketing unemployment claims being filed. “29.6 million workers were getting unemployment benefits at the beginning of September. Also, we found out last week that more than a million jobs were added in August, and unemployment fell almost 2%,” Hartman said.