Good Fried Chicken

Well, here's a topic that's bound to get a few different answers! Here in the Atlanta area - Past place: Deacon Burton's Soul Food, Atlanta. Present place: Matthew's Cafeteria, Tucker. I've heard good things about the chicken at the Watershed in Decatur, but haven't been - but a friend made up a bunch of it from their recipe for a New Years get-together and that was a memorable meal, I tell you what!

Junction City, Kansas had Cohen's Chicken House that evokes wonderful childhood memories, but when I went through some years back I found it had burned down. Think I went hungry that night...

The best fried chicken I've had was in 2 "home style" restaurants in Jefferson, NC--"Shatley Springs" and "Greenfields". And yes, I have eaten at "Stroud's", "Eddie's", "Loveless" and many others. I especially like theirs in combination with their chicken gravy, biscuits, vegetables and the platter of country ham that comes with their family style order.

I look forward to trying "Jacquimo's" on my next trip to New Orleans, and it has been so long since I ate at "Keaton's that I can't rank it with more recent offerings.

Deacon Burton's! Ahhh, I remember the place fondly from my days in Atlanta and living in the Old Fourth Ward. A true Roadfoad shrine if ever there was one.
No prices listed, just Deacon manning the cash register with a measured eye, charging you by the amount, and type, of food on your plate, and what he figured you could afford to pay. The matrons behind the counter frying the chicken in cast iron skillets, and the servers saying "What'll ya have, hon?"

Best fried chicken I've ever eaten The Salmon biscuits served for breakfast, along with a couple of chicken legs slathered in hot sauce, were little pieces of heaven, too.

I remember coming into the place one hungover morning, looking pretty ragged I'm sure, and ordering four Salmon biscuits and a couple of legs, for myself and a friend, and Deacon looking at me, then at my order and charging me $1.35 for the works.
I still miss that place. I still miss fried chicken for breakfast, too.

I heard one of sons opened a place just around the corner from the original on Dekalb Avenue, but I never got a chance to try it.

Thanks for mentioning Deacon's, The Stearns would have, along with a lot of Roadfooders, loved it, I'm sure

edited to add; Now that I think about it, I think there was a posted menu, on a big sign on the far wall of the place with prices. But, you were still charged by what Deacon figured you could afford...

There are so many great places that I can’t think of any place I would go just to eat fried chicken. But I am kinda partial to the FC at Ryan’s Steakhouse here. Sam’s Restaurant in Fairfield TX has wonderful chicken. As far as fast food, I guess Popeye’s is about the best.

Ryan's is real good if you can get it when they first com out. Several months ago I had their fried chicken and the outside was real brown and the interior was ice cold. I e-mailed their corperate buddies and told them that was a dangerous practice. It appeared to me that they was frying frozen chicken and putting it into inventory. I received a personal phone call and they said they were doing exactly that, but were changing their practice. It is much better now. The call I received indiciated that they would give me six free meals since that was the amount that were at the party. It did not happen.

I still do Ryan's because of the Atkins thing and the choice.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

quote:

Originally posted by Biscuit

Deacon Burton's! Ahhh, I remember the place fondly from my days in Atlanta and living in the Old Fourth Ward. A true Roadfoad shrine if ever there was one.
No prices listed, just Deacon manning the cash register with a measured eye, charging you by the amount, and type, of food on your plate, and what he figured you could afford to pay. The matrons behind the counter frying the chicken in cast iron skillets, and the servers saying "What'll ya have, hon?"

Best fried chicken I've ever eaten The Salmon biscuits served for breakfast, along with a couple of chicken legs slathered in hot sauce, were little pieces of heaven, too.

I remember coming into the place one hungover morning, looking pretty ragged I'm sure, and ordering four Salmon biscuits and a couple of legs, for myself and a friend, and Deacon looking at me, then at my order and charging me $1.35 for the works.
I still miss that place. I still miss fried chicken for breakfast, too.

I heard one of sons opened a place just around the corner from the original on Dekalb Avenue, but I never got a chance to try it.

Thanks for mentioning Deacon's, The Stearns would have, along with a lot of Roadfooders, loved it, I'm sure

edited to add; Now that I think about it, I think there was a posted menu, on a big sign on the far wall of the place with prices. But, you were still charged by what Deacon figured you could afford...

That's the Deacon all right - I ate lunch there quite a lot when my work barely made the rent - once went through the line and realized I was utterly broke. He said 'That's okay, you can pay me when you get it.' By coincidence, someone I knew was eating there and owed me money so I could pay it.

A friend told me she'd gotten stranded there when she stopped for breakfast; he dropped everything and made it a point to drive her to where she needed to be. I consider myself lucky to now and then know someone who gives humanity a good name.

We were discussing Matthews in Tucker just the other day, mainly in the context of wondering if Cofer Brothers was still open and then digressing into a trip up and down Main Street, from Tucker High (still open, since they made Henderson a middle school) to the bike shop down at the Lawrenceville Hwy end(status unknown to those in the conversation).

If they're still there, we'll have to detour off 285 next time we're over that way. I always wonder going back to places like that from childhood if they will live up to my memories of them.

Culvers make good chicken here in northeast Wisconsin. Tasty,juicy and full flavor.

The best Fried Chicken in the DC area/ Maryland is at the Amish Market in Germantown, MD(on Great Senneca Highway). Tye Also have some Bojangles on the eastern part of the Beltway,for great "Chain" chicken.

Matt

For fried chicken in St. Louis I recommend


Hodak's or Mary's both of which are on Gravois

I can't exactly pinpoint my favorite. however in the top five in no particular order are....
1. Strouds...Kansas City MO
2. Hollyhock Hill...Indianapolis IN
3. Dabney's....Richmond VA
4. McDonald's Cafeteria (closed).... Charlotte NC
5. Toss up between Coffee Cup Cafe.... Charlotte NC and Dodd's Townhouse
Indianapolis IN
Other Favorable mentions are Mary Mac's Tearoom...Atlanta and Freckles..Richmond VA

I like the chicken resturants in Oldenburg, IN. German influenced with spices and lots of pepper. And if you can find Enochsburg, not on most maps, go to the Home of the Krisy Chix. Its probably been there since WWII but it was always worth the trip when I was a youngster.

Tristan: could you name a few of these restaurants for me?

My dad is a huge fried chicken fan and Oldenburg is not too terribly far from Cincinnati...and his birthday is coming up.

Please name your favorite, or top 3 or so if you can.

TJ: Oldenburg has two resturants that specialize in fried chicken. Both of their names escape me a the moment but if you see how small of a town Oldenburg is, you should be able locate them easily if you can get over the fact that all the street signs are in German. I'm thinking the larger of the two is called Wagners but I might be confused. I remember I could get Christian Morlain there which was a plus. But the smaller of the two had a little spicier chicken which I really liked. I'll try locate both places names and post it for you.

Thank you, Tristan Indiana, for bringing the small village of Oldenburg to our attention. This is the kind of information I joined the forums for.

Now we have thoughts of a day trip to Oldenburg for peppery fried chicken, and who knows what else in the surrounding German named communities of Hamburg and Millhousen. There's even a hamlet named Peppertown just 5 miles up the road. I would love to know the reason for its name.

The forums are quite an incubator for dreams of road trips on cold February nights.

I forgot to mention if you'll willing to drive a bit further, the Kopper Kettle in Morristown, IN has some of the best Hoosier pan fried chicken around. Just like mom use to make. They serve everything family style and is located in an old house in town

The other fried chicken resturant in Oldenburg is called Cooks.

quote:

Tristan: could you name a few of these restaurants for me?

My dad is a huge fried chicken fan and Oldenburg is not too terribly far from Cincinnati...and his birthday is coming up.

Please name your favorite, or top 3 or so if you can.

When I was a young child in the Dayton area...we would sometimes go to a place called the Wooden Shoe Inn in Minster, Ohio...best fried chicken and potatoes in the world...I have no idea if they are still there, but it may be worth a look. I'd be interested in what you find out.

quote:

Originally posted by ksiegel@mac.com

I like the fried chicken that I get in (don't laugh) the Deli at Publix Supermarkets. Eight pieces to a box, and they are meaty, and the breading has just the right amount of black pepper in it.

I was delighted to see you post on Publix delicious fried chicken, ksiegel, as I was just about to ask this site's Sunshine State contingent (Kristi S., Rusty 246, Sushi Girl, et. al) about the same.

In addition, and for you northerners, anyone ever had the scrumptious fried chicken at Hattie's in Saratoga, New York ??

Don't know if all Publix use the same recipe, but the one I frequent here in Nashville (and which I love for many things) has something in the breading for their chicken which tastes to me faintly of Lipton's Onion Soup mix. I don't notice it as much when the chicken is fresh out of the grease, but let it cool a bit and the flavor becomes much more pronounced. Not quite sure what it is (or if it's just in my head), but I rarely get Publix fried chicken anymore because of it...

All this talk of fried chicken is making me ravenous. I really envy
you all the great fried chicken places south of the Mason-Dixon. Are there any
Yankee places (perhaps run by a displaced reb that really knows how to cook chicken.) How about central New York? We need great chicken up here to take our minds off that 156 inches of snow !!!

quote:

Originally posted by pogophiles

Don't know if all Publix use the same recipe, but the one I frequent here in Nashville (and which I love for many things) has something in the breading for their chicken which tastes to me faintly of Lipton's Onion Soup mix. I don't notice it as much when the chicken is fresh out of the grease, but let it cool a bit and the flavor becomes much more pronounced. Not quite sure what it is (or if it's just in my head), but I rarely get Publix fried chicken anymore because of it...

Pogophiles,

After hearing the praise about your pallete on the TN BBQ topic I would not question that you detect Lyoton's Onion Soup mix. Why would this stop you from buying Publix fried chicken? Is there something about Lipton's Onion Soup mix that we should know?

Cakes

I don't know of anything particularly wrong with it, I just simply do not like that flavor, especially in the crust of my fried chicken. I'm not necessarily against crust additives per se, but I did not view this one as a positive addition.

The best fried chicken I've ever had was at L.T.'s on Lady's Island in Beaufort, SC.

I had no idea McDonald's Cafeteria in Charlotte had closed. What awful news. I ate there back in 1999 on my one trip to Charlotte, and it was really the only reason worth visiting the city.

for the 'sundancer'.....on the food channel,they did a show on where to get good chicken, a few places were in your general area, see if they will give you the show either in video or whatever, one I know was in Tenn.
of course, you are always welcome at my house when the fried Chicken spirit moves me, my gravy is unbeatable

Just let me vent a little more on the closing of McDonald's Cafeteria in Charlotte: I'm willing to bet that not a single franchise of the congolomerate restaurant chain that bears the same name has ever closed in that city "due to a lack of traffic," as the cafeteria owner told a local paper. What's wrong with this country?

quote:

Originally posted by danimal15

Just let me vent a little more on the closing of McDonald's Cafeteria in Charlotte: I'm willing to bet that not a single franchise of the congolomerate restaurant chain that bears the same name has ever closed in that city "due to a lack of traffic," as the cafeteria owner told a local paper. What's wrong with this country?

I couldn't agree with you more, unfortunately there are people out there that don't know any better.

Maybe it's dim memory, or I was really hungry, or we were a captive audience - but I really remember the fried chicken box lunches the the Southern Railway put on its diner-less trains for lunch and dinner. I always heard that they had local places do the cooking, but they had a standard recipe. Does any one else remember this? Am I wrong that it was good? Any source for that recipe. if it really existed?

Bill

In my opinion there is nothing better than hot fried chicken or cold fried chicken. It may be the best thing that anyone can bring to a picnic or cookout.

I am taking my bike with a friend to Cades Cover in the Smoky Mountains for a trip around the beautiful 11 mile one way road around the cove. I have got my back pack filled with KFC extra crispy, cole slaw, mashed potatoes with gravy and some libation for the trip;.


Fried Chicken is one of my favorite things.

I have had it fro breakfast in LA with a chicken and waffle place which I believe was Roy's? I forgot but it was good and I have had it at 2:00AM in the morning cold out of the frige. I love fried chicken

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN