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The most-hyped chicken in Denver right now is plump, juicy and costs $68. For a single chicken. But it’s not just any chicken; it’s an all-natural, heritage French breed rotisser-ized to perfection at Michelin-recommended Heretik restaurant.
Naturally, as a food-loving but cost-conscious gal, I can’t just let a $68 bird strut around town unchallenged.
Fully understanding the economics here and, let’s be honest, the downright grossness that can come with lesser poultry, I put the Heretik chicken to the test, tasting it against two very different contenders, including what has become America’s sweetheart of rotisserie birds, the $4.99 Costco chicken.
Now Denver has no shortage of whole rotisserie chickens for sale, from fast-casuals like Pollo Lima, Chicken Riot and Chook Charcoal Chicken, to dine-in restaurants like Work & Class and the Cherry Creek Grill. Depending on where you buy it, your poultry can run anywhere from $20 to well over $40, which got me wondering: just how much is a good chicken worth, and can I actually taste the difference?
So I carved, pulled and picked my way through three rotisserie chicken challengers. One cost as much as a day of childcare, another ran about the same as a month of ad-free Netflix, and the bargain fowl rang up for less than a latte.
Let the poultry games begin.
Meet the Birds
The take-home version of Heretik’s rotisserie chicken. At $68, it is the Denver restaurant’s most-ordered dish. (Allyson Reedy/Special to The Denver Post)
First we have the luxury chicken, Heretik’s $68 Rotisserie Poulet Rouge. (Note: it comes with fries, chicken jus, and a caper, parsley and garlic dipping sauce; a half bird is available for $38.) This is a top-of-the-line chicken, a French heritage breed humanely raised by regenerative farmers, the kind of chicken “Portlandia” built skits around.
Heretik chef/owner Theo Adley said he pays three times as much for these prized birds compared to commodity options, and he does so for their superior flavor, thinner skin (better for crisping) and ethical sourcing.
He also paid a premium for his Rotisol rotisserie oven, the most expensive piece of kitchen equipment he’s ever owned. The investment seems to be paying off — the chicken is the most-ordered dish on Heretik’s menu, moving 40 to 50 birds a night in the tiny, 32-seat restaurant.
Their multi-day process starts with an overnight brine, followed by a day or so of drying before hitting the Rotisol for 50 minutes of continuous garlic-thyme butter basting. The oven’s slow rotation and self-basting design are meant to
yield birds that come out evenly browned and extra moist.
Denver-based Chook’s rotisserie chicken is all-natural and raised and cooked without antibiotics, artificial ingredients or preservatives. It cost $22.49 in October 2026. (Allyson Reedy/Special to The Denver Post)
Next up is the middleweight contender, a whole bird from Chook Charcoal Chicken for $22.49. Still all-natural and raised and cooked without antibiotics, artificial ingredients or preservatives, Chook is modeled after Australian charcoal rotisserie chicken shops. The kind of neighborhood fast-casual pit-stops where locals grab a bird on the way home for dinner. Or at least that’s what co-founder Adam Schlegel told me and an internet search confirmed. Who knew that Aussies were so crazy about chicken? (Apparently anyone who’s been to Australia, which is not me.)
Then I got the People’s Bird, Costco’s Kirkland Signature rotisserie chicken for $4.99. Costco sells more than 150 million of these a year, probably because of that unbeatable price. Like literally unbeatable. They sell their chickens at a loss, and obviously small businesses can’t be expected to price their goods anywhere near this.
Alas, the Costco chicken is no natural beauty. They’re injected with phosphate to keep the chickens large and juicy, a chemical that’s banned in the EU because it’s easily absorbed by our bodies and linked to vascular problems. Also, recent reports have highlighted hormone-disrupting chemicals in the birds that have experts advising parents to limit how much kids consume.
But it’s $4.99!
The Pecking Order
The famed $4.99 rotisserie chicken from Costco’s Kirkland brand, ready to be eaten. (Allyson Reedy/Special to The Denver Post)
The only chicken I had to wait in line for was Costco’s. They’re so popular that they get grabbed out of the heating display as fast as the battle-tested employees can bag them. When I got my chicken home, I was impressed by its looks — it’s truly a golden, gorgeous bird. But its looks were deceiving. That golden exterior wasn’t crispy; it was tacky and rubbery, requiring real effort to pull apart the skin. The meat was definitely moist, but it was also flatly salty in a way that felt more engineered than seasoned.
Overall it was the blandest contender, the bird that no one at my table was in a hurry to finish. But I guess that makes sense. It’s a cheap, versatile ingredient waiting to be shredded into weeknight soups, salads and enchiladas, not necessarily intended to be eaten on its own.
The next two were very close in deliciousness. Chook was a handsome, deeply browned bird, charred in all the right places thanks to its time over the charcoal rotisserie grill. Flavor-wise, both Chook and Heretik delivered massive jumps over the warehouse chicken. Chook’s charcoal roasting gave the skin a smoky depth, and the meat was really well seasoned. (Fun fact: you used to be able to buy Chook Chicken Salt from Savory Spice.)
Listen, my wallet desperately wanted me to pick any chicken but Heretik’s, but the heart wants what the heart wants, and mine wants $68 chicken. Its glistening skin was the snappiest of the bunch, and its meat just seemed slicker. Even the dark meat was visibly redder, signaling its elite poultry status. The salt I tasted here was the good kind, a layered salinity that amplified the flavors around it and created a consistency throughout the bird. We picked these bones clean.
Is it worth $68? For me, probably not, especially since Chook’s chicken was almost equally tasty. If I had an unlimited budget, I’d like to think that I’d use my money to promote ranchers and farmers doing the right thing, raising these birds in a responsible way that’s better for the earth and for our bodies. But for most of us, a $68 chicken isn’t a habit, it’s a luxury. The good news is that there truly is a chicken for all, and how we weigh price against poultry is entirely up to us.
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