Best Discovery on a Return Visit at Pikunico

I am always bad with direction. This is something I can't denied. 

In any other times, my sense of navigation with my eyes and nose would not let me down. Somehow I didn't factored in that certain parts of downtown LA does not have a through street. I blamed that on the lousy google map app on my iPhone.

I was in a rush one night to get to this mini style cafe on one of the "newest" and "happening" plaza in southern California. There seemed to be a grass root campaign in opening up a trendy hub center for dining and shopping center that can generate buzz for the youngsters here. Yup folks, the mall is the blase of the 80s and we're living in the new Millennium.

In what was a overlooked decision on my research, I also didn't know that the hub center also holds a hip market/food stalls gathering where those Millennial would congregate every Sunday. That plaza is fabulous called ROW DTLA, a terminal market back in the old days with wholesale factory warehouses in walking distance close to each other. The Manufactory building is now a converted restaurant row while other parts of the factory warehouses become boutique stores, gentrified coffee houses and remodeled restaurants.

The wholesale farm market is now a weekly Sunday Foodies meet-up as new colorful, unique food are served on these food stalls.

So, what does it have to do with me getting lost? Well....google Map couldn't keep up the new happenings as the fences and walls are build up, while the neighboring warehouses bordered up the road with their mangy iron clad gates that used to connect to my destination.

Oh joy!

When I got there, I was assuming the place I wanted to visit would be closed up because I arrived a good 5 minutes after the reported closing time. To my astonishment, they pretty much welcomed me in on that frenzy Sunday. You can guessed I was in a much better mood to check out on parts of this cafe with picnic benches.

Click Play to see the interior

Pikunico have a modern look of a chic style cafe that serves Japanese Fried Chicken. They have a long communal table that is affectionately known as "The Bench". What I craved the most was their talked about "Golden Chicken Sandwich". When I was in a disparaged mode of trying to get into ROW DTLA, all my thoughts was on that sandwich. It was the only thing that was keeping me from falling apart in getting around the dead end streets.

Golden Chicken Sandwich

The lady that took my order was a cheery fella that was patient and more than happy to serve. She could have played it off as though they were closed. I probably would have been bummed, but I would have understand. To make one of their last order easier, I got the order of Chicken Sandwich and a mix tray of chicken as a takeout to go.

Mix Chicken of Wing, Thigh, and Tenders with Origni Rice

Let me just say that after tasting all of the chicken, I was ecstatic. One, I was pleasantly surprised by the evenly distributed of the breading in the fried chicken. My sandwich itself has one of the most unique turmeric bun that is filled with watercress, jalapeno, and a lemon flavored aioli. The part that conquered me over was their miso jam that was smoldered over the chicken. This sandwich not only won me over, but more importantly it made me go back to try something else.

Part of the weird journey was that I was in a happy mood to go back and try their other side items.

I decided to get their Chicken Egg Drop Soup. To my memory, they didn't included the diced up chicken bits in the Egg Drop Soup. I think that was a good decision to added on because it makes this bowl of soup more heartier.

The big ominous surprise that I will say was the onigiri rice. It's their housemade rice ball that seasoned with ginger and garlic that is wrapped with nori seaweed. That to many looks unspectacular, but in this was the best thing to arrive to my mouth in a while. It doesn't contained spam or meat, yet I was extremely in peace after chomping on those two onigiri rice balls.

The lady that took my order on my ill-fated trip to ROW DTLA? That was the creative chef Kuniko Yagi. Once I found out she was the executive chef at SONA, I knew there was a reason why I wanted to make that trip to this Fried Chicken cafe in the first place.

Truth to be told, I think I was searching up Japanese Fried Chicken and internet kept pointing me to that chain in Sawtelle Blvd in West LA. I was glad to be pointed here instead.

If that fateful trip didn't turned out well, I probably would missed out on the terrific Golden Chicken Sandwich. Worse... I wouldn't have discovered their onigiri rice.

My pro tip, ordered their chicken tray and skipped the fries by getting the onigiri rice. That would be winner winner chicken dinner any time. Pff...I can't believed that phrase was typed.

Pikunico
767 Alameda Street Ste 122
Los Angeles, CA 90021

Worth The Wait in Long Lines at Howlin' Ray's

I'm ready for the new Star Wars ride at Disneyland Park coming soon in a few month.

I heard the Star Wars Galaxy Edge ride will be phenomenal with the state of the art effects and plenty of excitement that will satisfied everyone in the whole family. Just like that... so are about 200,000 people expected to come to the amusement park and wanting to get on that ride. Just like that a reservation system is on hand as you might need to be on a waiting list of over 10 hours just to get in line for that ride.

Fear not folks, I got plenty of practice waiting in line this year. Good ol' Howlin' Ray's provides plenty of training for that long wait.

If you have not have heard of Howlin' Ray's, then you probably didn't have a pulse with LA food scenes or just hidden under the rock the past 3 years. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to catch up once you see the line to buy one of their famous Nashville hot chicken.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Johnny Ray Zone when he first opened up his brick and mortar front after his sting of sling his chicken at his food truck. Funny part of the story was that he opened up this front in a plaza at Chinatown that was more known for souvenirs and imported Chinese goods. In the front of that Far East Plaza was abundance of Chinese BBQ takeouts and other Cantonese restaurants.

Medium Chicken

Time have changed obviously as there are more hip openings from a coffee shop (MIA), ice cream stand, a bao place from an east coast transplant, hip Taiwanese joint catered to the westerners, and an upscale version of Filipino restaurant all have opened up around the same time as Howlin' Ray's.

After seeing the restaurant gain popularity from local media and social media presence, the place blew up with long lines from young and old seeking this Nashville Hot chicken people have often heard, but never able to experience it unless you travel farther east. Surprised no one ever caught on to that as there are many options of different fried chickens in southern California, but never this variety. Nowadays, you can't turned around without some announcements of a new Nashville style hot chicken being offered up.

Medium (level 3) and Mild (Level 2) Chicken Sandwiches

What makes this place that popular for a long line? I guess it all starts with the chicken. There six different spice levels you can choose. I often settled between Mild (#2 on the hot scale) or Medium (a step up from Mild). You can go on a dare and try their Howlin', which was taste numbing, sweat inducing, and nosebleed crotch of a hot heat.

The smell of this heat can already make your eyes watery. Just by touching it will already leave that smell on your hand for hours. The nosebleed is not exaggeration for some of us as we are never able to muster through the whole breast or leg without feeling sniffle and the cries of mercy. Not sure it's pain or tears of joy, as eating Howlin' level can be both at the same time.

The thing I admired about the chicken and why I was waiting in line every quarterly was the fact the meat was juicy and the crispy skin was not flaking like a weak butter skin. I hated the water down skin you see from a certain well known chain. The meat was important, but the battered fried skin was one of the few things I enjoyed about Howlin' Ray's version of fried chicken.

When I first started coming here, the line was probably less than 20 minutes. Gradually as the words of mouth got out, it expands to 40 somewhat minutes. Then you know it got serious when it is over a hour. Then for some eff'd up reason, it now gets ridiculous at weeknight for 100 minutes. (I had been told the line can be 4 hours on weekend afternoon at times).

Whole Bird - Medium

For those might be getting discouraged, we heard expansion is coming. When there is more places opened up, dividing up the crowd to various different joints work. It is often a line killer. Remembered the first "Salt & Straw" opened up and there was a wait? With more locations, it destroyed that long wait. We are hoping this would be case as well for another Howlin' Ray's joint.

For me, I'm getting the hang of waiting in line and practicing in advance of the new Star Wars ride. Pro tips on waiting in line, get a few friends to wait with you. There is never a dull moment and the excitement can be heightened.

After waiting more than a hour, I still have favorable impression of the fried chicken.

Now as in for that wait for one ride...... let's hope it doesn't take up the whole day for one ride.

Howlin' Ray's
727 N Broadway #128
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Top Notch Pollo a La Brassa at Higo Chicken

In a world where we don't often get the best of both world, we often tend to get the poor imitation.

That's where the word "fusion" get the bad rap.

Causa Rellena - Whipped Potato with Aji Amarillo, filled with Shredded Chicken

How did we come with this poor misconception? Pretty much I can think it was originated from people who wants to mix two different things together and hoped the mashed-up works. I still think the worst idea in the world are the durian pancake or ube latte. You just can't pleased everyone by mixing some stuff.

Higo Chicken is a brainchild of the owners who started up Higo Sushi that had opened down the street from this Pan-Latin Cuisine place. It's a Peruvian cuisine that had a hand with some Japanese influences, especially with the ingredients. Higo Chicken obviously can obviously be Pollo a la Brasa (Rotisserie Chicken), but they do a bit more than what the name suggested.

The famed Rostierrie Chicken with SpinachTallarin with Basil Sauce and Cheese

First, I pursue some of the items on the menu where I was curious about the ingredients on the dishes. Especially the potato being a popular ingredients on both the apps and the mains. Pasta is also another item reign supreme in the menu as well. I especially love their version of the tallarin (think spaghetti, but in this case spinach spaghetti with basil sauce!).

Crazier thing is that we all need to try the Causa Rellena, which is like a whipped potato puree with a shredded chicken in the middle. This is a sight to be hold when it was presented.

Their dessert is also another worth checking out. One of the offering was a lucuma flavored ice cream, which the fruit itself is a native of Peru. I could best described the taste like durian minus the smell. For ice cream, it's bearable and worth the experience it is given.

My plan coming here wasn't to compared authentic Peruvian with Latin fusion food. Far from it. In my pleasant dining experience here, I founded in that even though the owners who dabbled with the artistry of Japanese cuisine in their other location with a few Peruvian dishes in that sushi joint. Having them to decide to invest fully on a separate location to dedicate Peruvian dishes was a great call. With no regrets, I can honestly say this should be an authentic Latin fare everyone can enjoy.

Just like my deal with Urban Cup review, I'm still hoping fusion cuisine thrives in my area.

ps. I have placed this restaurant as one of my go to place for chicken in Los Angeles / Orange County. Check out my other chicken dishes related restaurants on this Top 10 List.

Higo Chicken
722 E Whittier Blvd
La Habra, CA 90631

Top 10 Chicken Dishes Served in Los Angeles

I'm pretty sure you have seen tons of lists for places to go and reality just hit you. Majority of them are in part of the town you hated to go for various reasons? Parking maybe? Way out of the way for one meal? What's worse?... it catered to a segment of crowd you don't fit in.

Honestly, I can compile so many lists with a whole bunch of places to eat. The main reason for this list was that I don't feel like doing a review for every one of the place. It's a bit time consuming to try every thing. Instead I'll highlight the specialties for the places I had visited. So once in a blue moon, you'll see a list pop up for specialty dish or a particular fun fact.

For this segment, I'll do places I go for chicken. Maybe I'll do more lists in the future if I had enough contents for it. 

No ranking or are in any particular order. I'll list the places for their awesome skills in doing chicken justice. Area of local suburbia will be given special treatment here. Best Chicken in Los Angeles or OC? Maybe. You can decide.

Higo Chicken
722 Whittier Blvd
La Habra, CA 90631

This was one of my favorite find recently. It's a hybrid of Peruvian cuisine with a hint of Japanese subtlety. There's a wok in the kitchen for tallarin (think of chow mein, but pasta) and the decor of the place somewhat fits more in line of an Asian cafe than a la polla brasa places you are accustomed to.

The big attraction given by the name is the Peruvian Rotisserie chicken that are served here. Juicy and tender. Can be combo with their basil spinach spaghetti or basil rice. Must get their spicy cheese potato as well. A true find in a hidden strip mall.

Chicago's Pizza With A Twist
11767 South Street
Artesia, CA 90701

I am thinking this place was more than just a normal pizza shack. It's regional chain for their mix of Indian cuisine on to pizzas. My review can be found here. What attract me is their flavored wings. Obviously you can get buffalo sauce or some sweet sauce elsewhere, but have you ever heard of had their Tandoori spiced wings?

Don't knock until you get it. This is just totally out of this world.




Tokyo Fried Chicken Co.
122 S Atlantic Blvd
Monterrey Park, CA 91754

This weirdly get a ton of love early on, but was able to sustain after all these years (more than 5 to be exact). I always was meant to do a review of this place after few visits, but never got around. It's a good time to add in this perennial favorite. Think of karaage chicken you would have ordered from Japanese restaurants, then imagine when it's southern deep fried with the batter and kept its essence of flavor of ginger, garlic and soy.

Voila! A cosmic creation. Oh, don't skimp on the creamy corn if you get a chance to get in to this place. Popular with the young hip foodie crowd.



Phat Birds
4701 E 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90022

If there is ever a discussion about just "Best Fried Chicken", this place will always be on the top any of my list. I can't do a list of this magnitude without including this place. Seriously, it would do an injustice. Check out my love affair with this place in this review.



Dino's Chickens and Burgers
843 W Arrow Highway
Azusa, CA 91702

The charbroiled chicken in here always exploded with a mixture of lemon and pepper with a bag of tricks in their other spices. Their fries are also drenched with juices from their chicken and sauces are sure to delight the senses. Not going to lie, your clothes might smelled like the chicken after a while. Also, don't be alarmed if you need to take it to dry cleaning afterwards.



Tasty Food
8150 Garvey Ave Suite 117C
Rosemead, CA 91170

You know it was coming. We can't leaved off any list without mentioning the steamed chicken variety of Hainan Chicken. It needs to be perfect and balance in 4 essential categories. The chicken itself needs to be juicy and plump with flavors. The skins itself needs to retain that unmistakable texture. Then you got the dipping sauces that can add another element in the taste without losing the essence of that original flavor. Oh, what else we're missing that is probably the most important about this dish?

The rice. Yup, that needs to be infuse with the stock of the chicken broth and immerse it hours after. It's like sushi, you don't serve it plain. That's just wrong and criminally insane if you just accepted as such.

Speaking of which, the best Hainan Chicken (Thai, Singapore, Malaysia, or any southeast Asian variety) that can be found is in inside of a rundown supermarket in Rosemead on a nondescript food court. Check them out, it's never on Eater LA's list for some reason.



Honey Kettle
9537 Culver Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232

We already did a Fried Chicken place above with Phat Bird. I made some weird promises on not looking for places in locations people loathed to travel to. Yes, Culver City will be one of them with paid parking meters in abundances. So why here?

I can't let anyone leaved without getting their honey infused chicken sandwich. That's why. Phat Bird and Tokyo Fried Chicken Co. has something in that variety, but Honey Kettle can parallel them in their offering of this sandwich that is solo in their menu. Strangely they don't offered any other sandwiches, other than just this one standalone. Take it for what its worth. A must ordered item if you happened to hit this part of the area in the uber trendy zone.



Toko Rame
17155 Bellflower Blvd
Bellflower, CA 90706

I'm pretty sure everyone is thinking a Tokyo Rome, a hybrid version of the Tokyo Italian variety. Reading the name closely will give you a misspelled combination of international city. This Indonesian restaurant has been a mainstay in downtown Bellflower. With the expansion of many hype restaurants moving towards southeast LA area in Gateway cities, a new food hall will be building close to this popular Indonesian bistro that serves some of the most authentic southeast Asian fare.

One of which is this buttered chicken that just melt in your mouth. Love it when it's bone in, as the skin and meat literally comes off the bone quick. Side note: It's a bit hard to get in to the parking lot. Almost required stunt drivers to maneuver into a parking space. Trust me it's not easy, but when you do get in... you might just want to stay there the whole day because it will take more effort to get out.




New Golden City
1015 Nogales Street
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

This is a bit off the beaten path on the east side. New Golden City attracts a lot of family crowd for the easy comfort food of dumplings, beef roll cakes and noodles dishes. One of the more understated items tends to be the poultry dishes. In the alternative universe, a lot of people often surmise in Chinese restaurants in that you can't eff'd up a chicken dish.

That's easy to do if you over cooked it or over sauced it (aka Kung Pao Chicken). This variety of their "House Chicken" is not only seasoned with the right amount of sauce, but it's also tender and juicy in its own right. It's a perfect a compliment to a bowl of steamed rice.




Chef Kang Food Rehab
401 S Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90020

Let's not forget about what's popular in southern California... Korean Fried Chicken (the real KFC). One of my favorite type is the soy garlic wings that many restaurants have tried to fashion. Some are very successful in adapting this, while others failed miserably. Needless to say, I will only showcased the best ones and Chef Kang's version is one of the best I have encountered in Koreatown.

After his many ventures in catering side of the business, it was great to see that a brick and mortar restaurant is set up on a busy traffic side of Vermont Avenue in Koreatown. There are many dish to try from Crab Curry rice to his stewed ribs, but it's the soy garlic wings or Honey wings that are needed to be had in this fusion restaurant in this chicken tastings.




Harissa
8914 Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90035

Harissa is a Kosher restaurant that serves Tunisian cuisine that has a hint of American and European influences on its dishes. Situated at the southeast side of Beverly Hills, it offers some of the finest Tunisian couscous feast, such as this Lemon Raisin Chicken dish. If there's a chance a joyous occasions can be found, this would be a good place to start.

The Secret to Fried Chicken? It's the Mild Sauce

Something exciting is about to happen!

Can you imagine having something sweet and tangy on your deep fried fixings? I can assured you it can happened!

I was told of a place here in Beverly Hills that had just opened up with a sauce that will dazzle you to no point with the opulence of the sauce in enhancing your deep fried chicken or seafood.

Mild Sauce is the name of a Chicago style tradition of having that flavor and richness on to your fried fixing. We all can gathered in that Hot is associated Nashville, while Savory Spicy is associated with Southwestern Texas. I never really knew that there is a distinct flavor with fried treats associated with Chicago until it was passed on to me that I need to try Chicago style chicken and fried catfish.

Apparently, Mild Sauce will change my perceptions instantly. No joke, it did changed me.

Press Play for the interior of the place

The thing that struck me about coming to this no-frill fry house was they kept a tile top counter by the entrance with a look of a happy 50's cafe diner. I was feeling jovial about the fact it kept some reminiscent of bygone years.

When I was greeted by one of proprietress of the joint, I was warmly welcomed by a woman named Fix. That's when I knew I was going to be in good hands! Yes, I did spelled the name right.

After the made-to-order Trio Combo I have ordered was placed in the deep fryer. I also had the chance to examine the sauce that was raved by many of the Chicago's transplants. Yes, this establishment was fondly from Chicago and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that many of the well known celebrities have already made a visit here.

Yeah I know...it's Beverly Hills. The feeling was that so many high end dining can be had, but they chose to make a pit stop here. There are also plenty of deep fried chicken places these days, so why here?

Then it hit me when I take my first bite... it's the sauce.

Press Play for the Sauce

The richness of the sauce oozes out of the bottle that was provided. I can have them to spray the sauce for me or doing it on my own. Frankly I was conservatively with the pour before the first bite, but gang way.... no stopping with the pour from here on out.

The Trio combo I ordered was one piece of chicken, catfish, and shrimps deep fried with crispy battered glistened on each of the battered goodies. Fries and a cole slaw was our companions to the trio that made its way to our battered goods.

The main attraction was the sauce. Was it a secret recipe that is too hard to duplicate? Or was it just something that is not marketed it like hot sauce like the southeast brethren from Nashville?

It got to a whole point where we wondered why didn't people think of a sauce that doesn't need to be spicy or hot can be a compliment to deep fry goods? Does it always need a kick? As you can tell, it just needs to wet our taste buds.

This sauce was an awakening that I need, to be realized a good deep fried chicken like Mild Sauce restaurant can provide can enhanced the flavor. It works well on the chicken leg and breast we got. I do think their catfish was already good enough before the sauce, but it only up'd the level when it was slathered on . A fantastic revelation that I didn't know until this visit.

Now if all these well known celebrities can't be wrong, then I guessed it's no use to argue with them. (found photos online of them visiting this exact location)

The old joke of what's the different between Chicago Fried chicken versus other fried chicken is not wrong... the difference is the sauce.

Mild Sauce
8500 W Olympic Blvd Suite B,
Los Angeles, CA 90035

Another Hainan Chicken Contender in Cluck2Go

Here we go again.

We got another situation at best age old question of where to go for that steamed chicken rice we recently talked about. I hated to do a similar cuisine post so close to each other, but I was done in by the request for that a better place for Hainan Chicken rice can be had locally near my work on the eastside.

The sign to let people know it's the same owner as Man Chan (down the street)

Since I did a post on Red Chicken which was a popular hang out among the nuevo cluck crowd that didn't want to go a high traffic dating place of Savoy that is down the street, I was recommended to try out Cluck2Go.

Why here you asked?

Apparently, for many years, a lot of Chinese compadres living on the east SGV (any Asian community east of 605 freeway) hated going to west SGV that consists of Monterrey Park to El Monte. Reminds of you transients that lives in West Hollywood not willing to venture out east of 405. In their mind, they found a groovy place for their fixings for this Hainan chicken....

The place they all have a hard on for the steamed chicken that I described in the Red Chicken post was a restaurant called "Man Chan". Not really a hidden gem as I remembered it fondly before and would recommended to people who stopped by here. 

However the good news was they decided to open up a scale down restaurant that focused only on their chicken dishes (steamed or fried) with a few sides. Hence, the Cluck2Go was conceived as Man Chan can be a full pledged Chinese restaurant with other rice dishes and different array of proteins than just poultry.

Hainan Chicken Rice

This location was a bit of a curse as i can remembered. In the beginning of the decade was a Flame Boiler outlet that gave way to a Korean Fried chicken joint. Sadly I never went to the latter and go to the former because of my co-worker fascination as a fancy healthy meal. 

I kid you not.

With this scale down version of the main flagship, Cluck2Go still maintained a fantastic juicy chicken that we come to expect for a good Hainan chicken that we all can craved. The minimalist vibe here gave it a Subway dining room kind of feel with a to-go mentality to match with it.

Fried Chicken Wings

I don't really know if this was a short term extension  or maybe this place can catches on where they can expand like Green Zone (another chain that catered to the nuevo cluck crowd). It's worth the quick meal like Flame Boiler? , but yet served the chicken rice dish on the fly.

*post note: I found out the answer after I wrote this*

To answer that question, this is the best Hainan Chicken rice I had on the eastside. The best thing about Man Chan or Cluck2Go was their tender juicy chicken. I do like the ginger dipping sauce for the chicken, but the spicy sauce needed a bit more kick to it. I also highly recommend to get the wings as well. That is better than the fried chicken as a meal.

This is good for work area meal, but I think I can travel farther distance for this dish if I am willing to be patient.
---

*ps. I found out that it is an expansion as there is another Cluck2Go in Pasadena. That location apparently was the first one.

Cluck2Go
17110 Colima Rd
Ste A
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745

Excellent Interpretation for Phat Birds

Let the debate begin!

I think it was done many times before, but the question often tiredly get asked and always a new answer is given every so often. Let's ask it again shall we?

Where can you find the best fried chicken in LA?

The Front

You get that question a lot, don't you? Probably more times than you can remembered and I obviously changed my answer every few months when I visited a new place for fried chicken. One of the best spots that stuck to my mind since my initial visit sometime last fall was this quiet little place near a metro rail station in East LA called Phat Birds.

Pronounced like "fat", but slang translation meant "excellent" or "cool". Luckily they went PC and not called themselves Phat Chicks or a riot would have started for sure.

I think I have done a few chicken shack like Crack Shack and Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken. This unique spot was I discovered from a list belonging to a traveling "advisor" site.... ie Yelp for travelers. Pleasantly, it actually exceeded even my wildest imagination.

Usually on a boring weekend, I can make a trip and park it near residential area as parking lot does not exists. Keep on that in mind if you decide to come on a weekend evening where a party can happened and takes up all of the neighbors space as well. 

Outdoor Seating

Cute little remodeling of this shack where it showed what might be an older food stand that reworked into a subtle outdoor picnic patio for the masses. Another sure sign this is legit is the cooker in the back of the stand where I can see where the fryer are being kept for churning out these fried chickens.

The famous Honey Dipped Chicken

To the point, they offered three offers of flavor with two size orders. The flavors are either be traditional (original for most people), Honey Dipped, or Nashville Hot Fried. The sizes comes in a quarter size (legs and thigh / breast and wing) or half size (which include all four parts).

My favorite among what it was offered was the Honey Dipped flavor fried chicken. I think it's like traditional, but then dipped in their special honey with a side of fries and pickle with a slice toast. At my last trip, I was able to get their traditional without any sauce and still enjoyed this juicy tendered fried chicken that was in store for me. If it was up to me, I would choose the honey dipped.

Traditional Chicken

Somehow I liked the fries so much and got that again for the half chicken. If I get adventurous enough, Nashville hot would be next. That required gutsy move on my part.

There are also new items being introduced since my initial visit last year that made its way this year was the housemade chicharrones and corn fritters. Both of the items needs to be explored next time along with the Nashville hot version of their fine fried chicken.

East LA is a burgeoning area that is getting more popular as hipsters are making its way east past downtown and Silverlake. Not surprisingly.... you can guess a lot of people who don't live in this area are making a trip to get these chickens just like I'm doing on that warm afternoon.

One observation I have noticed is that many of the chicken places tends to be in a parking lot of a pre-arranged agreement with certain property owners to operate a limited hours schedule. We can named a few fried chicken specialists are doing this. This location gave a good blue print on how to grow the business without the need to have a brick and mortar retail space and still thrives.

Is this debate settled? This place is right up on the discussion and probably will outlive many others for the near future.

Phat Birds
4701 E. 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90022

A Classic Dish That Is Now Hip at Red Chicken

There's a dish that is making a major comeback.

It seemed not long ago everyone can only named one place to go for the steamed chicken we all tend to love ... Hainan Chicken. The place people would suggest is name of an Italian specialty cafe that can served out this southeast Asian favorite poultry dish.

What's Hainan Chicken and why is it so special?

Hainan Chicken Rice - Steamed Chicken with sauces

Let me break this down. In order to get this dish right, you pretty much have to cook this chicken to be moist and have a silky texture feel. The skin would needed to be in this texture of a taste (it's a blasphemy not to include the skin!). On top of that, the rice need to be steamed with the chicken stock to have that flavor.

Oh, let's not forget about the sauce! That's probably the most important, but yet more ignored part of the whole dining experience of Hainan Chicken. You got have that chili, soy, and ginger sauce to separate the sweet, spicy, and savory taste for that chicken.

It's used to be only south part of China specialty named after the island where it was famous for. However, it was grown be loved by most of southeast Asia like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and any big Chinese populations. For marketing purposes, most Chinese restaurants just simply named it "Hainan Chicken" because people will understand you wanted steamed chicken with all these pou pou involved.

Getting back to it, there used to be only one place that serves in the whole LA as of 2002. I know because that Italian place (Savoy Kitchen) was named the #1 date place for Asian community in LA. They served pizza and pasta, but was ecstatically known for this steamed chicken. I for one, are not a devout follower of this place and was on the look out for a better one.

Singapore Fried Chicken with Rice

Flash forward to present day and time where there is Yelp, Google, Instagram and other online presence that can get you to survey the land for that offerings. There are places like a food court in a supermarket, a hole in the wall restaurant, or even places that is known for other specialties dishes, but serves a bang up chicken like this.

How did I ever wind up in Red Chicken? Long story short, it was because someone I know complained about the service here, but mentioned how good the place was in having this dish. Service be damned.... I would not miss out if this is one of the better steamed chicken I am going to see.

Fried Chicken Wings

It basically looks like family run restaurant where I can see kids are there too during dinner time. I guess people don't mind if the food is good and can ignore this simple fact. My best guess also was that the owners running it has some sense of social media as they keep their taps on it and also update their website regularly. How savvy they are? We'll find out if they can find this post online.

My initial thought about this no frill, limited menu item place was that they are specialized (the name of the place, Red Chicken) was actually pretty good. I do love their wings and their fried chicken rice dish. The one that is where the dish people craves for... the steamed chicken was spot on. All those prerequisites I posted earlier have all been met, so I really am excited for the place to challenge the Italian place a few miles away.

Pink Milk - It does a body good?

This is a pretty straight forward place with not much to entice people to make the long trek for. People usually settles, but I think with the steamed chicken getting more popularized as I have noticed a sizable list was circulated by a few publications... it may be a good alternative finally.

For once, I can honestly say that popularity is catching on during the new Millennial era of SnapChat or Instagram. It was forgotten and underappreciated by the Gen X era of bloggers. Let's hope it doesn't get too crazy as more of these red chicken are popping up. I am noticing they are catering that crowd with those crazy milk drinks. Instagramable?...hardly, but you get the idea.

We all love a good comeback stories, but we also remembered the fizzled forgotten. Xiao Long Bao.
Red Chicken
1001 E. Las Tunas Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776

A Believer of Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken

One of the big phenomenon we encountered in the past few years was the craze for fried chicken.

Not just any fried Chicken.... Nashville Fried Chicken!

What is so special about Nashville Fried Chicken? Is it the hotness? Spicy? Red hot to your tongue kind of chili hot spicy? I think the Colonel just got into that for all their chains of fast food joints and for some reasons even the fast food burger joints got into the act of offering these delectable craze.

In one sense to be honest I'm not totally sold on it... just yet. However, I do want to savor different type of chickens recipe the southeast has to offer. Interestingly, I'm about to get that chance finally when one of the more revere chain from Tennessee is coming to town.

Gus's World Famous Chicken is a good place to start. It originated from the back of a tavern where a couple used to sling their famous two piece with a bread, side of beans and a slaw. As you can tell by where I am going with this story, their success would lead to expansions to other parts of the country including Texas, Georgia, and the midwest. When they finally opened a few years ago in LA, I still wasn't too keen on wanting to make a trip to a part of the town I loathed to go (one in the valley and one in the southwest area).

People in LA understands me ... when traffic on the long freeways and congested road are involved.

Press Play to see the interior

Luckily one opened up in a more down to earth part of Long Beach where it's a bit easier and ample parking to boot. In a very nice way of describing, they still kept some of the charm that a tavern would looked like. A few telies showing the sports games and a checkered table cloth decorating the tables in a cozy dimmed atmosphere that would behooved a saloon somewhere in the country side.

3 Piece with Mac N Cheese, Slaw, & Fried Okra

Why did I fancied fried chicken for dinner? To be honest, I guessed I'm still thinking deep fried is still a work of art that culinary snobs treat it as easy to make with no real difference. Chicken is chicken for many people out there.

It's still the cooking preparations to cook this poultry and the recipe of the spices on these batter to give either crisp on the skin or the flavor on the meat when it's served red hot. That's where the moment of truth comes to play when I came into this establishment.

Let's get it out the way, for a chain... this was hands down the best fried chicken I have had in a long while. The flavor is not that hot as in burning hot. It doesn't numb your tongue like some of the other Tennessee or southeast chicken would do. This was all about capturing the essence of aromatic flavor for the skin and let the juiciness of the meat speak for itself.

The juiciness of these fried chickens on the bone was mouthwatering and the temptations can be hardly feigned off for your a few of your senses. If there any senses, you would give up, lose the ears because the taste bud, smell, and sight are totally needed for this dining experience.

I personally skipped the beans and substitute it to a mac n cheese, but kept the slaw for my sides. I think they both played well. The fried okras I got was a burgeoning success I thought. With the ranch for dipping, those okras are an excellent mouth poppers.

Value for value, how does it compared? Being truthfully told, this place might rivaled some of your more posh dining restaurants in town. Their "snack box" of 10 pieces of fried chickens will set you back a good $30 in this Long Beach establishment. That is almost three times the amount the Colonel is charging for their bucket special down the street.

Chocolate Chess Pie

Before I forget, you must get their chocolate chess pie when you get the chance. That itself is a spectacular masterpiece itself.

Here's the question on the top. Was this considered to be Nashville Fried Chicken? Am I believer? I think if this is the representative of what a southeast variety of fried chicken should be, then I would be squarely on their side. Definitely will continue to be purveyor of the fowl devourer.

Trust me, your wallet might not like it, but your tummy will thank you for it. What's worse? Your taste bud might request you to make another order.

Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken
2580 Long Beach Blvd
Long Beach, CA 90806

What's In a Chicken Box ?

What is the most efficient way of getting a food to go?

Back in the day, I think a common theme is to set an easy store front with pick up window and then you can bring your food into your car to enjoy the lovely solitude in the comfort of your car. Heck, even something like Sonic can bring the food in a tray out to your car.

That's the thing about the past on how people dine. You don't see it as much these days of pick up and take out places. One of the more fascinating place I have encountered was this little boutique chicken shack along the chaotic busy street of Whittier Blvd.

Front of the Shop

The best I can describe Chicken Box was it reminded me of a little gift shop on the side of the highway road. The decor reflected the charm of a boutique gift shop. as you can see for yourself.

I am always fascinated by the small charms and the history behind the shop. I guess I am curious whenever I passed by this place that is so out of the way, but seemed to get traffic with plenty of regulars stopping by for their pick up.

As the name can attest, it's chicken in a box. One type of chicken. Broasted fried chicken.

Chicken In a Box

They also served out seafood, barbecue ribs, and wings. Limited on the menu, but they served on what they are known for, which is their broasted chicken that is battered perfectly. Seasoned well with the skin fall right off as it's not crispy. It's not a deep fried variety with crunch skin crisp, but for the rest of us who prepared the broasted method, this is heaven.

There's always a great way to dine as people are less likely to eat in their car now. Who wants to ruin the leather seat or have weird food smell in their car? Luckily, they have situated a few tables out in their front porch (yes, it's like a converted house in a middle of a parking lot) of their chicken shack restaurant.

Overall, I think I would come here if I ever craved for some of those fried chickens. Mostly I would considered using them if I need to catered to a big group or parties. This would be a great meal for a back yard parties. Did they lived up to their slogan on the sign (it reads "World's Finest Chicken")?

You'll have to go in and judge it yourself. I think it's right up there for broasted chicken.

So remote as I previously mentioned as the place still reminisced of the old days on how fast food or casual take outs supposedly works.

Chicken Box
330 E. Whittier Blvd
La Habra, CA 90631