Atlanta's crispiest and juiciest fried chicken
Jun 12, 2003, 7:30 pm
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Atlanta's crispiest and juiciest fried chicken
Someone pointed me in the direction of Tiburon Grille in Virginia-Highland. A plate of fried chicken selling for $9.50 is listed near the bottom of the menu amidst Mediterranean and New American entrees selling for $16 to $25. But the relative bargain price in no way means that it's treated like the ....... child: Mindfully raised Bell & Evans chicken breast is pan-fried in a cast-iron skillet to a deep, reddish brown. Served with collards and buttery mashed potatoes in the dining room's dim lighting, the dish had an old-fashioned, romantic aura.
The chicken at Greenwood's in Roswell, on the other hand, seems rebellious. Bill Greenwood deep-fries his birds in a thick batter redolent with coarse black pepper and sweetened with honey. True to form at his restaurant, you get four whopping pieces of white and dark meat on your plate, along with two sides. (The best sides for fried chicken merits another meditation and investigation all its own, but I'd go with the broccoli casserole and rice and gravy here.) This is the kind of crust you just peel off with your hands and pop in your mouth. And it tastes great cold for breakfast the next morning.
When I hit the soul food restaurants, my dormant fried chicken gene really kicked in. I've been to Thelma's Kitchen before, but had passed on the chicken. Now I know better. Hers is salty and crispy in all the right ways. I love to look around the dining room, watching the other customers literally hunched over their plates with focused expressions on their faces.
Same goes for the [b]Busy Bee Café[b] near Morehouse. The restaurant's name is no joke. The place was packed at 2 p.m. on a weekday afternoon. Their "beelicious" fried chicken, with a smooth, crunchy crust, is simple but deeply satisfying. I ate here with a friend who spoke nostalgically about his father's chicken fried in beer batter throughout the meal. Fried chicken, for many folks, is memory food.
Have I found disappointments in my explorations? A couple. Heretic that I am, I wasn't crazy about the fried chicken at the venerable Son's Place, the descendent of Deacon Burton's universally celebrated bird. It's not that the meat wasn't moist or the crust unseasoned, but it was lukewarm every time I visited. They keep it in a holding bin from which it's served cafeteria-style. I went three times between noon and 1 p.m. trying to get it while it was hot, but it was tepid each time. Maybe they need to have a Krispy Kreme-esque "Hot Fried Chicken Now" sign outside.
For the record, I'm also not a fan of the Colonnade's fried chicken. It's aggressively saline, and the white meat is often dry.
Excerpts from: http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/food_feature.html
The chicken at Greenwood's in Roswell, on the other hand, seems rebellious. Bill Greenwood deep-fries his birds in a thick batter redolent with coarse black pepper and sweetened with honey. True to form at his restaurant, you get four whopping pieces of white and dark meat on your plate, along with two sides. (The best sides for fried chicken merits another meditation and investigation all its own, but I'd go with the broccoli casserole and rice and gravy here.) This is the kind of crust you just peel off with your hands and pop in your mouth. And it tastes great cold for breakfast the next morning.
When I hit the soul food restaurants, my dormant fried chicken gene really kicked in. I've been to Thelma's Kitchen before, but had passed on the chicken. Now I know better. Hers is salty and crispy in all the right ways. I love to look around the dining room, watching the other customers literally hunched over their plates with focused expressions on their faces.
Same goes for the [b]Busy Bee Café[b] near Morehouse. The restaurant's name is no joke. The place was packed at 2 p.m. on a weekday afternoon. Their "beelicious" fried chicken, with a smooth, crunchy crust, is simple but deeply satisfying. I ate here with a friend who spoke nostalgically about his father's chicken fried in beer batter throughout the meal. Fried chicken, for many folks, is memory food.
Have I found disappointments in my explorations? A couple. Heretic that I am, I wasn't crazy about the fried chicken at the venerable Son's Place, the descendent of Deacon Burton's universally celebrated bird. It's not that the meat wasn't moist or the crust unseasoned, but it was lukewarm every time I visited. They keep it in a holding bin from which it's served cafeteria-style. I went three times between noon and 1 p.m. trying to get it while it was hot, but it was tepid each time. Maybe they need to have a Krispy Kreme-esque "Hot Fried Chicken Now" sign outside.
For the record, I'm also not a fan of the Colonnade's fried chicken. It's aggressively saline, and the white meat is often dry.
Excerpts from: http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/food_feature.html
