As franchise location #3431, El Pollo Loco in Encinitas's New Encinitas district sits at North El Camino Real and Town Center Drive inside the Encinitas Ranch Town Center. The chain's signature open-flame grilling process -- whole chickens marinated in a citrus, herb, garlic, and fruit-juice blend, then fire-grilled and hand-cut to order -- gives this outpost a char-grilled protein format different from the wok-fired preparations at nearby Chin's Szechwan on Encinitas Boulevard. Founded in Los Angeles in 1980 and now operating over 480 locations, El Pollo Loco builds its Encinitas menu around the same core chicken across burritos, tostadas, quesadillas, bowls, and family meal packs portioned for groups of four to twelve. The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health assigned this location a 100-out-of-100 health inspection score, a benchmark uncommon among the drive-through quick-service restaurants clustered along the El Camino Real strip that also includes Rosati's Pizza. The fire-grilling protocol starts with whole chickens slow-marinated in a proprietary blend of citrus juices, garlic, herbs, and fruit juices, then cooked over open-flame grills and hand-cut to order for assembly into burritos, bowls, tostadas, and family-size platters.