Chaudry knew enough about the dish, sometimes spelled chargha, to know how to eat it: He used a piece of naan to tear off a generous hunk of meat from the bird. He garnished the combination with masala onions and then dunked the bite in mint chutney. “When I tried it, I was like, ‘Man, this is amazing,’” he tells me one afternoon over the phone. “I was like, ‘I got to learn how to make it.’”
Chaudry tried to learn as much as he could on the ground in Lahore, but he admits his grasp of Pakistan’s mother tongues is shaky. But he established one important fact during his brief educational tour nearly a decade ago: The chicken is typically steamed and flash-fried, not cooked on a rotisserie as he had initially guessed. From there, Chaudry and his uncle, Iqbal Chaudry, researched and tested recipes until they had exactly what they wanted: their own take on one of Lahore’s signature dishes.
As you might surmise from the name of their place, Charga Grill specializes in the twice-cooked bird, a rare chance in our parts to taste a dish common to the streets a half-world away. Asad and Iqbal’s storefront would be worth a trip to Arlington for the charga alone (and, please, don’t call it “charga chicken”; the word charga translates to “chicken” in English, so you’re basically mimicking Jimmy Two Times whenever you use the term, much like folks who say “chai tea” or “shrimp scampi”). But Charga Grill is not limited to charga or even to the dishes of the Chaudry family’s native Pakistan.
Charga Grill is an open-ended math equation, an expanding universe, open-source software, pick your favorite metaphor for a business seemingly limited only by the founders’ imagination, which, in this case, appears boundless. You’ll find chicken preparations lifted from countries on at least three continents: sajji (another Pakistani invention), peri-peri (South Africa) and Peruvian (more Lima-style than Peruvian American style). You’ll also find a steak-and-cheese sandwich, an Angus beef burger, a blackened catfish sandwich, a lamb gyro, pulled chicken tacos, rib-eye steak kebabs, chicken tikka kebabs, Nepali curry and even butter chicken.
“We wanted to do comfort food for, like, every race, every ethnicity, every culture,” Asad says, by way of explanation.
If you’re the type who makes a living consulting for restaurants, you might argue Charga Grill has no fixed identity, no center of gravity to prevent the concept from floating off into the ether, lost to its own inflated ambitions. But you would not understand the free-form, open-minded attitude that has animated at least two generations of Chaudry restaurateurs. Malik Chaudry is Asad’s father and Iqbal’s brother. Malik has traveled widely, and when he decided to launch his own restaurant after working in the industry for years, he didn’t want to feature the dishes of his native Pakistan. Instead, he open La Luna in Woodbridge, a place that specializes in Salvadoran, Mexican and Tex-Mex plates.
“He loves Pakistan dishes,” Asad says of his father, “but he always loved Latin food. That was just his thing.”
Uncle and nephew have taken Malik’s freethinking approach to whole new levels with Charga. It’s liberating for both men, especially Iqbal, who used to run Sabrina’s Pollo in the Tysons Corner Center food court, where, he says, every menu change had to be approved by mall executives. These days, Iqbal, the head chef, might call Asad, the sous-chef and counterman, late at night with his latest inspiration, like a dish the pair once offered as a special: cheesesteak samosas. (Whatever universe in which cheesesteak samosas are a regular thing, I want to be part of it.)
The best place to start is with Charga’s killer lineup of chicken. The pollo a la brasa is streamlined, stripped of the thick paste of herbs and spices that comes slathered on many interpretations, favoring instead a lean-and-clean fusion of smoke, salt and soy sauce. The skinless charga may not have the heat of the Lahori archetype, but it boasts a South Asian-like marinade that emphasizes fragrance over fire. The rotisserie sajji chicken requires a 16-hour salt brine, followed by a 24-hour marinade, and results in a smoky bird that practically redefines the concept of savory. The peri-peri chicken features a chile-heavy paste that detonates on first bite, laying waste to everything in sight, including your palate.
The Pakistani side of Charga’s persona comes through in ways both obvious and subtle. Iqbal’s line of kebabs includes some superb specimens — the chicken tikka and lamb seekh skewers prime among them — but also caters to the beef-eating crowd with meaty morsels of rib-eye dusted with turmeric, garlic, coriander, cumin and more. There are no wrong choices here. I also detected a hint of Pakistani influence in the curry dishes, no matter the country of origin: Both the Nepali curry and the chicken curry luxuriate in oil, typically a sign of a Pakistani cook in the kitchen. The oil adds an unctuous quality to every bite, without tamping down the dish’s inherent bouquet and spice.
Asad is often the first person to greet you from behind the counter at Charga. He’s the type of guy who makes friends easily. He calls me “brother” every time we chat, as if I’ve earned a spiritual honorific just by entering his establishment. Asad is just as generous with samples. He’ll hand you a container loaded with lime-cilantro rice, curried chickpeas, Peruvian arroz chaufa or the saag-like spinach to help you decide how to accessorize your entree. (The correct answer: any or all of them.) He is more than an owner and cook. He’s an emissary to the world of cooking as practiced by Iqbal and Asad Chaudry.
A previous version of this article incorrectly said that Charga Grill is located on Lee Highway. The highway has been renamed Langston Boulevard. The article has been corrected.
5151 Langston Blvd., Arlington, Va., 703-988-6063; chargagrill.com.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday; noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.
Prices: Menu items range from $1.50 to $30.
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