Fightin' Cock Roaster Now Open in Magnolia

To name his new Magnolia eatery, Fightin' Cock Roaster, owner Jon Davis said he was inspired by his travels through Southeast Asia, Central America, and the Caribbean. "One thing the equator has in common is spicy food and the sport of cock-fighting. I don't endorse cock-fighting but I had to come up with something!" What he does endorse is equatorial cuisine--a phrase he coined to describe his dishes, which are a mix of all the flavors he encountered on his travels. "I recognized all these things that were common around the equator," says Davis. "Most people were doing North and South fusion, pan-Asian, or Tex-Mex, and I said, 'Here in Seattle I have Vietnamese friends that have bakeries; why don't we start putting barbecue on Vietnamese bread and chicken satays on sandwiches?'" The Fightin' Cock's Thorndyke Avenue West location is small, so orders will be mostly to-go, but Davis felt that after managing the Jai Thai chain for the last four years, he was ready to simplify things. "We're lower staff and lower square footage, but we put a lot of emphasis on a full-service kitchen," he says. Dishes include their specialty the Mojo--red mojo sauce served with chicken, rice, and beans--as well as the most recent menu addition, pulled-pork barbecue sandwiches.

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