Rotisserie chicken legacy's goose cooked?

George Aiken was to rotisserie chicken what Michelangelo was to the naked fellow statue.

Although they labored in distinctly different mediums, both Aiken and 'Angelo created memorable art. But you never had to travel to the Vatican or a museum to view Aiken's works; you had only to stroll past one of the restaurants bearing his name that dotted the local landscape for decades.

The birds usually were roasting in the front windows.

Aiken, alas, is gone and now the last eatery bearing his name appears on the verge of joining him.

A new 15-story high-rise containing a hotel, office and retail space is planned Downtown where George Aiken's Shoppes stands.

It's on a block of Forbes Avenue near Market Square that once housed two other Pittsburgh institutions long ago consigned to history: the G.C. Murphy Co. and the National Record Mart.

"I knew this was coming," said Ken Aiken, 55, a Monroeville mortgage broker and son of the late restaurateur who died in 2007. "I knew it was just a matter of time. But it's still a shame."

Aiken's evolved out of a Chick-N-Trim store in Braddock that Aiken opened with his brother, Carl, in the 1950s. The first George Aiken's Shoppes opened in Oakland in 1962.

At Aiken's peak in the late 1970s, he had about 10 self-named restaurants, including four Downtown, as well as the more upscale Georgetowne Inn in Mt. Washington.

No one ever would have confused Aiken's with a trendy tapas place. The menu featured comfort food such as Salisbury steak, macaroni and cheese, pork and beans -- and of course the chicken.

"They had a chain feel about them, but they were definitely local," Ken Aiken said. "They were distinctive as well, with their green-and-white awnings, the green, white and yellow G/A crests on the signs and the striped Formica counters."

He said his father considered attempting to expand the chain nationally but didn't want to cede control of the company to shareholders by taking it public. Instead, he franchised several Aiken's restaurants locally.

Before Aiken died, his last restaurant on Forbes Avenue was taken over by longtime employee Tony Baverso. Aiken sold the property on which it stands to the city Urban Redevelopment Authority. The URA intends to sell it to Millcraft Industries Inc., which will build the high-rise.

A worker at the restaurant said Thursday that Baverso didn't want to discuss Aiken's future -- or lack thereof. Millcraft officials have said they want the retail space to be anchored by a signature restaurant, a description that frankly doesn't describe Aiken's and its cafeteria atmosphere.

No denying the high-rise will be an improvement over the ramshackle buildings, parking lots and vacant space it will replace on Forbes. Too bad it probably won't happen without the demise of what long has been the city's premier place to buy rotisserie chicken.

While there always is a price to pay for progress, seldom is the toll exacted in poultry roasting on a spit.