Bojangles is slightly better chicken (plus their breakfast menu is almost as good as Hardee’s and available all day) but the sides at Popeyes are GREAT. I would get a meal of just the sides if I could as their Cajun rice, red beans and rice, and mashed potatoes are fantastic especially for fast food. Heck, their sides are great for a real restaurant.
Best fried chicken in every state
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Bojangles is slightly better chicken (plus their breakfast menu is almost as good as Hardee’s and available all day) but the sides at Popeyes are GREAT. I would get a meal of just the sides if I could as their Cajun rice, red beans and rice, and mashed potatoes are fantastic especially for fast food. Heck, their sides are great for a real restaurant.
If I had the money to waste, I would open up a Raising Cane’s right next to every Zaxby’s and just rack in the $$$$. I never thought there would be a better gutbox than Guthries but then Raising Canes came around. It makes PDQ, Zaxby’s and Zaccadoos seem low quality.
And Popeye's Cajun Sparkles are the best and, coincidentally, was also the name of a dancer i knew in Lafayette.
Tucker’s for the win. We would stop there after a day or weekend of sinkhole/ coastal fun. Throwing back lotta of bird, terrific sides, and quantities of sweet tea was a way to prepare for tomorrow. Old school real food in an atmosphere of normal people.
We have 40+ Raising Canes around the metroplex. I like it.
You still have contact info? Asking for a friend.
Man, somebody's got to do something with the Bojangles in Atlanta. We ate the hell out of Bojangles when we lived in North Carolina, but they've opened a few of them around the Atlanta area, and every time I've been they've been atrocious. Filthy, dried out chicken, just a disaster. I've sworn them off, and we used to wish we had them in Atlanta.
Church's was legit, but Bojangles is probably the best chain.
Best big chain. There's a lot of really exceptional small chains like Maryland Fried, Krispy Krunchy Chicken, Golden Chick, Hattie B's etc...
Oh and I'm definitely looking forward to Bonchon expanding in the US. I've heard nothing but great things about it from Asian and ME travelers.
I'm surprised that it took this long for Maryland FC to be mentioned.
Everytime I drive through Thomasville on the way up to Atlanta or further, we stop off at the MFC. And I know Thomasville has about 20 other places for fried chicken (per population they must have the most fried chicken shacks in the country) and I've heard good things about several, but Maryland is good enough to skip the experimentation.
We have a Bonchon in Houston. Korean fried chicken is on a different level compared to domestic fried chicken. But it's so bad for you, we rarely imbibe.
This thread is tempting me to go to Willie Mae's or Dooky Chase's place tonight, instead of trying a new Peruvian place on Magazine.
They had a great breakfast sandwich, chicken/egg/cheese on toast. Their tenders reminded me of Publix.
Shingles Chicken over by FAMU was good. Went there a few times when I lived in Myers Park and it was down the street.
Maryland Fried Chicken is really, really good. The story of how it ended up with that name is pretty good, too.
They had a great breakfast sandwich, chicken/egg/cheese on toast. Their tenders reminded me of Publix.
Shingles Chicken over by FAMU was good. Went there a few times when I lived in Myers Park and it was down the street.
Shingles was a Tallahassee landmark that should never have been allowed to close.
Ha, got distracted & didn't finish that.
The original was on the outskirts of Orlando, and was first opened as just a general restaurant by a guy from Delaware. He'd been open a couple of years, then a block or so down the road a chain restaurant opened - a new place to the area called Kentucky Fried Chicken, and they were doing massive business with lines out the door all day.
The guy figured he could do the same, so came up with his own recipe & the idea of broasting it, and started making the chicken in his little place. Around the same time, the company that is now Lockheed Martin opened a big plant right beside his restaurant. LM was based in....Baltimore, so a lot of the employees came from there. He figured if he named it Maryland Chicken, they'd give him a try.
The original was on the outskirts of Orlando, and was first opened as just a general restaurant by a guy from Delaware. He'd been open a couple of years, then a block or so down the road a chain restaurant opened - a new place to the area called Kentucky Fried Chicken, and they were doing massive business with lines out the door all day.
The guy figured he could do the same, so came up with his own recipe & the idea of broasting it, and started making the chicken in his little place. Around the same time, the company that is now Lockheed Martin opened a big plant right beside his restaurant. LM was based in....Baltimore, so a lot of the employees came from there. He figured if he named it Maryland Chicken, they'd give him a try.
We make that recipe a lot. The lemon brine is what does it.
Has anyone mentioned Prines Fried Chicken in Nashville?
This place has a continuous 100ft long line that wraps around the building from opening to close. I was going to try the last time I was there, but line was too long.
Anyone been there?
This place has a continuous 100ft long line that wraps around the building from opening to close. I was going to try the last time I was there, but line was too long.
Anyone been there?
You mean Prince’s? If so my wife and I ate there in May just search my real name and Nashville in Facebook and you can see some pictures. I thought it was absolutely fantastic, I would just warn you that their spice levels are “off” compared to normal rankings. In other words I typically get Hot and sometimes get Xtra Hot at Hobbit in Tally and my wife prefers medium and will eat some of my hot and the Hobbit’s spice levels are on par with Hooters and most others I’ve had. But at Princes I got the hot and she got the medium. Their medium is about on par with Hobbit’s xtra hot (or at least midway between hot and extra hot) and I absolutely loved my wife’s medium chicken from Prince’s. But my hot chicken was lava hot, basically almost inedibly hot. And they have three levels above Hot! I couldn’t even imagine their XXXhot, it would just be pure pain.
So as a warning, order at least one step down from what you normally order. If you like medium wings elsewhere go with mild, if you like hot wings elsewhere go with medium, if you like nuclear options at other places go with hot and if you want to die then go ahead and have their xxxhot.
Watch David Chang's Ugly Delicious about eating the xtra hot chicken from Prince's. It's hilarious.
The story about the xhot is hilarious and entirely believable. But you’ll notice that when the white boy gets hot and I think he gets medium, that the white boy’s skin immediately turns bright pink and Chang starts sweating.
So fair warning Dan!
I will say that for me a person who ordinarily likes hot, xtra hot and even nuclear at mainstream restaurants that Prince’s medium was absolutely perfect for me. And I would get my wife’s medium again next time I’m in Nashville (and she’ll get the mild). But their ordinary hot was painful.
Here’s a nonslideshow version
https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/best-fried-chicken-every-state-gallery
I went to the LV Yardbird, in the Venetian. My GF and I agreed it would have been better to go to Popeye's and pocket the Benji we would have saved. It was good fried chicken, but I have had better. Po Folks in Marianna comes to mind.
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Hard to opt for Howlin' Ray's in LA when the original Yang Chow is a block down the street. But next time I am "home" I will try. I saw some idiots on YouTube playing "chicken" by eating (1 bite) of progressively hotter pieces.
I will give Sweet Chick in Brooklyn a try over Christmas. I used to like Nas & I am glad to see he's branched out.
I will give Sweet Chick in Brooklyn a try over Christmas. I used to like Nas & I am glad to see he's branched out.
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You know who has really good fries chicken in Florida? Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami Beach. $5 for half a fried chicken. Best deal in the restaurant. The liver and onions with bacon there is also good and dirt cheap.
Sort of off this subject...where do you guys (if at all) find decent raw bone-in chicken? The supermarket chicken is borderline repulsive with how overgrown it is.
I'd like to try to fry some, but primarily want it for grilling. These bionic chicken breasts are nearly impossible to cook because they're so stupidly oversized that you dry out 75% of it trying to cook it through. But it also frequently tastes terrible, totally inedible texture. When we occasionally do baked or grilled chicken, at least 50% are disgustingly hard or spongy, one bite and throw them out. But then other pieces will be edible, but still not ideal.
If you get grilled chicken at KFC, which I have a couple times, that's the normal sized chicken breast I'm looking for.
Obviously, one solution is just to eat thighs, which I do, but nothing like a nice grilled mix of pieces. I've looked around at stores, even the supposedly "natural" places and it's still grotesque size pieces. I don't think it's a hormone/additive thing, I think it's a breeding thing.
I'd like to try to fry some, but primarily want it for grilling. These bionic chicken breasts are nearly impossible to cook because they're so stupidly oversized that you dry out 75% of it trying to cook it through. But it also frequently tastes terrible, totally inedible texture. When we occasionally do baked or grilled chicken, at least 50% are disgustingly hard or spongy, one bite and throw them out. But then other pieces will be edible, but still not ideal.
If you get grilled chicken at KFC, which I have a couple times, that's the normal sized chicken breast I'm looking for.
Obviously, one solution is just to eat thighs, which I do, but nothing like a nice grilled mix of pieces. I've looked around at stores, even the supposedly "natural" places and it's still grotesque size pieces. I don't think it's a hormone/additive thing, I think it's a breeding thing.
Maybe I'm a little biased since I used to work at Publix, but you can't go wrong with their meat department.
YDFM (Your Dekalb Farmers Market). 90% of our meat/produce come from there. Helps that it's down the street from me Would be quite a hike for you. Also probably a hike, but if you want quality meat that's surprisingly inexpensive, check out Patak in Austell. It's a European style butcher and all the Euros (including my wife) vouch for it's quality. We get their sausages and cold cuts at YDFM, but if you have the opportunity to shop their directly, go and bring a cooler. They have so much more stuff and it's great and inexpensive. Unfortunately, not open much on the weekends. I think just the first Saturday of every month.
Chain - Popeyes
Beach Road Chicken in Jax is pretty high on the list as well.
Had Publix for dinner last night.
Beach Road Chicken in Jax is pretty high on the list as well.
Had Publix for dinner last night.
Just had Yoders yesterday (first time) and I must say it was probably the best restaurant produced fried chicken I've had. Very good.
I like Publix meat just fine generally, but they've got the same overgrown bone in chicken breasts that all the supermarkets have.
