When times are good, there’s fried chicken. When you’re down on your luck, there’s fried chicken. As food costs soar (with no end in sight), there’s still fried chicken.
The beauty of a crisp, juicy drumstick or tender thigh needs no explanation, but part of fried chicken’s universal magic is its simple and cost-effective ingredients. A breaded bird plunked into piping hot oil is accessible to most, if not all. You can put some lipstick on it, sure, and some of the spots on this list do, but, you usually don’t need to stretch your wallet to order a half bird fried to golden glory.
There’s also beauty in the mess. Fried chicken humbles us all. Whether you’re donning a plaid button-up and Patagonia vest among your rich in-laws at Rye or sitting at Gus’s vinyl tablecloths with a forty to wash it all down, it’s of no matter. One must dig in with bare hands and feast down to the bone…