Anthony Bourdain Was Amazed By Arlington Restaurant

ARLINGTON, VA -- TV chef and traveler Anthony Bourdain passed away tragically at the age of 61 on Friday. He left behind a legacy of traveling the world to experience countless cultures that most people aren't even aware of, and on one occasion he was truly blown away by a small restaurant here in Arlington.

El Pollo Rico, the no-frills Peruvian chicken joint located on Kenmore Street in the Virginia Square area, had such a great reputation that Bourdain dropped by unannounced for a 2009 episode of "No Reservations," and the visit made the cut of his D.C. show. You can watch the clip below.

"An unimpressive looking parking lot in Arlington, Virginia, the smell of something truly delicious issuing from somewhere," Bourdain said in the voice-over for the episode. "I really and truly had no plans to shoot here. I showed up cold, they didn't expect us, and I had no one in mind to show me around."

He snagged a couple of people in line to talk about the mystique of the place. They agreed that it was the owner's mysterious spices, flown all the way from Peru, that was the secret to his chicken.

"One of the first things I heard when I came to D.C. was, 'You gotta go to this chicken joint,'" Bourdain said while dining with the other patrons at a table.

Turning to the spices, he added: "I don't know what it is, but it's really good."

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