About 10 minutes into our wait time, they brought over a basket of veggies that looked rather like an advertisement for a farmers market, with lush green bibb lettuce, purple basil, radishes, baby carrots, and sweet peppers. In addition, they brought over 4 dipping sauces, a red chili sauce, hoisin, scallion (my favorite), and jalapeno soy sauce. And of course some mo shu pancakes.
And then it appeared before us, massive platters of two varieties of fried chicken. I had a brief glimpse into what it must be like to grow up in the south with heaping excesses of fried food placed in front of you. Just looking at the platter made me feel defeated before I even reached in for my first piece. There is no way this is only two chickens I thought (we later discovered that it is not just two chickens…they actually throw in extra wings, which was good to hear b/c my dining companions and I were worried about what kind of mutant chickens we were being feed as we each realized that we consumed more than 4 wings amongst ourselves and there were still more on the platter).
Now the chicken…I started with the korean style because there is some instinct within me to go straight for a chicken wing on a Sunday evening during football season (all the breasts are fried old bay mix, all the wings and drumsticks are fried korean style, and then the thighs are even). The korean style chicken has a great flavor to it with the hint of sirachi heat and fish sauce sweet and the crunch of the skin was ideal. I moved on to the old bay and was not disappointed. The crisp crust on the piece I tried was how comfort food got its name. I honestly couldn't tell you which one I prefered b/c they were both so good and different from one another and I think the correct pieces of chicken had the right fry batter. Now that I had tried the two plain, I began to dig in to the accompaniments. I wrapped the old bay one in the pancake and lettuce with some of the fabulous scallion sauce. This had the effect of making it seem as if I wrapped the chicken in a scallion pancake which felt like a genius move. The other sauces went well with the chicken but I felt as if they were unnecessary. Now I warn anyone who gets a reservation, you will hit the wall quicker then you expect. This feast is extremely filling…the waitress has only seen two groups finish the entire platter (one of 4 and one of 8). We were not one of those groups but we gladly took the leftovers home.
Was this the best fried chicken I've ever had in my entire life? No, but there was something about having the choice between the two types of chicken that made it above average (well that and the fact that David Chang is responsible for it). And, the flavor of each was fabulous, the crust crisp the way it should be, and the chicken moist. Overall, it will certainly rank as a top fried chicken experience in my book and well worthy of an eleven mile run.
Thank you yet again David.
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