Los Pollos Hermanos Pop-Up Comes to Albuquerque for Breaking Bad's 10th Anniversary

Abbey White
Updated
Two local super fans are bringing the show’s famous fried chicken joint to life.

Breaking Bad fans can once again enjoy the finest ingredients, brought together with love and care, then slow-cooked to perfection as part of a local celebration of the AMC series’ 10th anniversary.

Courtesy of a few New Mexico-based fans, the critically acclaimed show’s famous fried chicken joint, Los Pollos Hermanos, is making an extremely brief re-appearance in New Mexico this weekend. On January 20, a south Albuquerque Twisters will be reimagined as one of 14 locations of the fast-food restaurant chain once teased by Breaking Bad’s creator as a real possibility. In the series, the establishment served as a front for meth distributors and money-launderers Gustavo Fring and Max Arciniega.

For one day only, the fan-run pop-up is going all out with its theme. According to the Twisters’ general manager Reuben Zaragoza, attendees will be able to view the chain’s iconic sign, and the cashiers will don the same yellow shirts, aprons, and hats that were seen in the series. The two fans responsible for funding the pop-up, Albuquerque residents Edward Candelaria and Marq Smith, will also be on-site for photo-ops dressed as the “chicken brothers,” and those who attend will be privy to cake and a raffle. Because the pop-up isn’t being run by AMC, it’s unclear how legal it is, but that hasn’t stopped Candelaria and Smith from extending an invitation to the stars of Better Call Saul, who will be in town filming this weekend.

“If any of the cast members want to show up, hey, we’ll buy you a burrito,” Candelaria told local news outlet KRQE.

This isn’t the first time a version of Los Pollos Hermanos has appeared after Breaking Bad wrapped. AMC hosted its own fried chicken restaurant stop during last year’s SXSW that then traveled to New York City and Los Angeles, offering fans the chance to celebrate the fictional chain whose “employee training videos” won a 2017 Creative Emmy Award. The animated online orientation seminar was released alongside AMC’s Better Call Saul, which started production on its fourth season last week.

Fans hungry to eat where Walter White and The Cousins once visited can stop by the pop-up, located at 4257 Isleta Blvd. SW in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Saturday, January 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.