Posted by Michael Stern on April 01, 2007
Stroud's makes the most delicious fried chicken in America.
It is fried in a heavy iron skillet and arrives at the table a shade of gold that is breathtakingly beautiful. Each piece is audibly crusty, but not the least bit bready; there is just enough of an envelope of crust to shore in all the chicken juices. The crust itself is thin, brittle, and as flavor-packed as bacon, but in this case, with essence of chicken and spice. Once you crunch through it, juices flow down your chin and fingers and forearm: you are an unsightly mess, but you don't care because the juices are ambrosia.
The mashed potatoes are fluffy-textured, with an intense flavor of pure potato. As you fork up big mouthfuls of these spuds you learn new respect for real mashed potatoes and new intolerance for bogus ones. The only way these lovelies can be improved is if you ladle some of Stroud's gravy on them. It is zesty, pan-dripping gravy, redolent of chicken and powerfully peppered.
At the risk of sounding hysterical, we must tell you that the cinnamon rolls that accompany this meal are fantastic, too. Tasting more of yeast and cinnamon than sugar, they are big, swirly things with only the faintest hint of caramelized cinnamon butter around the base.
Expect to wait when you come to Stroud's: first for a table, then for the chicken, which is pan-fried to order. When we came by in the middle of a Sunday afternoon in spring, the wait for a non-smoking table was 45 minutes. We were too hungry for that, so we took a smoking table, which was available almost right away.
Overall: Worth driving from anyplace
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Fried Chicken Dinner
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"Here is the centerpiece of a fried chicken dinner for two, presented family style: two legs, two thighs, two wings, and two breasts. Other combos of white and/or dark meat are also available."
Michael Stern
"This close view of a hunk of skin torn from a piece of dark meat gives some idea of just how luscious Stroud's pan-fried chicken is."
Michael Stern
"The essential starch with fried chicken: mashed potatoes."
Michael Stern
"The essential topping for the essential starch: peppery cream gravy."
Michael Stern
"The quintessential bread basked with fried chicken dinner: warm-from-the-pan cinnamon rolls."
Michael Stern
"Those are thick homemade noodles in the chicken soup, which is super-chicken flavored."
Michael Stern
"Cottage fried potatoes are like thick potato chips: not as dazzling as the four-star mashed potatoes, but a nice change of pace."
Michael Stern
"If you come looking for al dente beans, you are in the wrong place. These long-cooked legumes are soft and porky and addictive in their own right."
Michael Stern
"On this site, settle David Hale built a log cabin in 1829. The hewn logs are still visible inside the up-to-date, utterly homey restaurant that is Stroud's today."
Michael Stern
"Started as a fireworks stand during the Depression, Mrs. Stroud's place then went to ribs and sardine dinners. During World War II, when meat grew scarce, she began serving chicken dinners. This is a picture of the OLD Strouds on 85th Street, now closed."
Michael Stern
