Okay so we have gone on and on about the rotisseries. The reality is, they are worth going on and on about because they are really cool, and to our knowledge there pretty much aren’t charcoal rotisseries anywhere else in Washington or anywhere nearby. (We talked to some nice folks in New Jersey who have them in their restaurants, though!)
I had a grand and enjoyable adventure finding rotisseries that were safe and rated for use in the U.S. and then coordinating with the Peruvian manufacturer, HiLite Corporation, to figure out how to get them to Seattle. During the process, we developed a wonderful relationship with the HiLite Corp. saleswoman, Kathy Zaragoza.
After more than a year of emailing with Kathy Z., coordinating with designers and architects here in Seattle, and lots of other detail sifting, we finally got ready to order the rotisseries. (We went with 2 stainless steel units, each with a 40-bird capacity.) From there, the rotisseries were manufactured in Lima just for us, and transported to the Port of Callao for shipping.
Maybe I am just a little too excited about this, but I can’t help feeling like the rotisseries’ journey was slightly epic. Maybe it’s the trucker’s daughter in me. (Thank you, Dad, for instilling in me a passion for logistics!)
Here’s how they got here. From Callao, they went on an international freightliner ship to Manzanillo, Mexico, then switched boats and went on to the Port of Long Beach. There, the container they were in was pulled for a random inspection by U.S. Customs (special baking equipement from South America? What could be sketchy about that?!). Once they made it past border control, they hopped on a truck for the final leg of the journey, up I-5 to Seattle.
Anti-climactic as it was, we weren’t quite ready for the rotisseries when they finally got to Seattle. That meant that they sat, unappreciated and unhugged, in a warehouse in Tukwila. At long last, though, they were installed this week! What a feeling to see those things in person. That day, installation day… as you can imagine if you are still reading at this point… was the best day of my life so far. Pretty much. The only thing that will top this is eating some delicious pollo a la brasa!
