Wilfrid Posted September 23, 2022 Author Share Posted September 23, 2022 Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill fried chicken binge. Because it's years since I ate at a Charles' Pan Fried Chicken. It was a buffet location (he's had a few), and you took a chance on whether the chicken was relatively fresh from the kitchen or had been sitting under a heat lamp for a while. There is no danger of this at his 145th Street location, opened last year. It is take-out only; on a Friday evening it was crazy busy, long line, and chicken being served minutes after emerging from those big, bubbling skillets. I wanted to compare it with Village Chicken and Burger on Amsterdam which I've used a few times as it's very nearby. I also tried Texas Chicken and Burger on Broadway, as I'd heard some locals praise it. Charles: Hands down the best. Decent quality chicken, large pieces and meaty; incredibly crisp skin. Despite all the talk of spice mixes over the years, could have been more seasoned. Village: I had been happy with this, but it doesn't survive the comparison. The skin is a little stretchy and chewy. Not bad though. Texas: Fail. Spongy, bready skin, unimpressive chicken. Unsurprisingly, Charles was twice the price of Village per piece of chicken. I think Texas was actually a shade more expensive than Village, but it's all combos there so hard to judge. Pictures to follow. ETA: Nice collards from Charles. I always like the Village coleslaw. It comes in a big tub and lasts for days. The small tub of coleslaw from Texas was mushy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted September 23, 2022 Author Share Posted September 23, 2022 Charles. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted September 23, 2022 Author Share Posted September 23, 2022 Village. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted September 23, 2022 Author Share Posted September 23, 2022 Texas. I think you can tell from the picture alone that this came third. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Flon Posted September 23, 2022 Share Posted September 23, 2022 1 hour ago, Wilfrid said: Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill fried chicken binge. Because it's years since I ate at a Charles' Pan Fried Chicken. It was a buffet location (he's had a few), and you took a chance on whether the chicken was relatively fresh from the kitchen or had been sitting under a heat lamp for a while. There is no danger of this at his 145th Street location, opened last year. It is take-out only; on a Friday evening it was crazy busy, long line, and chicken being served minutes after emerging from those big, bubbling skillets. I wanted to compare it with Village Chicken and Burger on Amsterdam which I've used a few times as it's very nearby. I also tried Texas Chicken and Burger on Broadway, as I'd heard some locals praise it. Charles: Hands down the best. Decent quality chicken, large pieces and meaty; incredibly crisp skin. Despite all the talk of spice mixes over the years, could have been more seasoned. Village: I had been happy with this, but it doesn't survive the comparison. The skin is a little stretchy and chewy. Not bad though. Texas: Fail. Spongy, bready skin, unimpressive chicken. Unsurprisingly, Charles was twice the price of Village per piece of chicken. I think Texas was actually a shade more expensive than Village, but it's all combos there so hard to judge. Pictures to follow. ETA: Nice collards from Charles. I always like the Village coleslaw. It comes in a big tub and lasts for days. The small tub of coleslaw from Texas was mushy. You are getting closer and closer to my apartment. Enjoy your chicken at Jackie Robinson Park next time. I don't ever go for mac & cheese but the version at Charles is exemplary. Also, there is never a line at lunch if you have the time to go in the afternoon. Chicken still doesn't sit out Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilfrid Posted September 23, 2022 Author Share Posted September 23, 2022 We are going to have to grab a drink one day. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Flon Posted September 23, 2022 Share Posted September 23, 2022 2 hours ago, Wilfrid said: We are going to have to grab a drink one day. Why stop at one?! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted September 23, 2022 Share Posted September 23, 2022 And some chicken! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 I'm glad @Wilfrid resuscitated this thread. Cuz yesterday evening, as I was running errands up and down Flatbush Avenue, I passed by the new permanent Pecking House -- and there was no line. Pecking House started as a pop-up inside the chef's parents' restaurant in Fresh Meadows. The chef came out of EMP. EMP chefs going solo to make cheffed-up versions of their own ethnic cuisines has almost passed from a trend to a cliche. But the Pecking House pop-up had a waiting list in the thousands. Now they've opened a permanent location on the corner of Flatbush and St. Marks (right across the street from the former location of Mayor Adams's friends' last restaurant.) So Pecking House serves cheffed-up Taiwanese fried chicken. I had a sandwich, fries (with green garlic ranch for dipping), and -- I'm happy to say -- a can of Schilling Pilsner. For fast casual, this was all extraordinary. The chicken was moist, perfectly fried, the crust subtly but forthrightly (and distinctively) seasoned. The sandwich is dressed with a sweet-and-salty pineapple preserve: delicious. The fries are seasoned with "roast chicken salt": dehydrated onions flavored with bouillon powder and vinegar powder -- close to genius. But there's an elephant -- or at least a giant chicken -- in the room. This all cost me $40. Is $40 for even the best possible fast-casual chicken-sandwich late lunch/snack grabbed on the fly while doing errands conceivably worth it? It makes you see how routine $125 full-service dinners make sense. I don't want to sound like my mother in the early '60s freaking out in the supermarket cuz a quart (or maybe it was a gallon) of milk went up to 23¢. But really. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 Most of the other people there seemed to be people having a Night Out -- OK, an Early Evening Out -- with friends. For them, it seemed like it was almost Occasion Dining. Now yeah, people who can't afford more than $50 a throw should have good places to go. Absolutely. But are these people being well served by a fast-casual chicken place where a snacky meal costs $40????? I mean, yeah, sure, this is infinitely better than Popeye's. But on the other hand, Popeye's isn't bad. And it costs A LOT less. Any number of good Chinese places cost A LOT less. El Gran Castillo de la Jagua, right up the street, costs A LOT less. Mitchell's Soul Food -- which is every bit as good as good as this, if much less cheffy -- costs A LOT less. Maybe my problem is that I don't eat very much in fast casual places, so I'm just shocked that someplace like this can charge what is, to me, significant money. But really. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
joethefoodie Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 6 hours ago, Sneakeater said: Maybe my problem is that I don't eat very much in fast casual places, so I'm just shocked that someplace like this can charge what is, to me, significant money. Like you, I don't eat much in fast casual places; oh sure, I'll grab a slice or two of pizza (and believe me, $5/slice aggravates me as much as it might shock your mother). I've never set foot in a popeye's, hence I don't know what that's all about. So I don't know what aggravates me more; your type of experience, or the $21 they (currently) charge for the Plymouth Martini I had the other night. On the one hand, I KNOW I can make the Plymouth Martini at home, and it will be the same (or better, because I'll have some snacks with it - an olive even) than the one served to me. But I also KNOW I can't (or won't) make that fried chicken sandwich at home, so there's that to think about. I do think you've hit another point; for the people using this as an early evening out, it's just fine. (Maybe they're pre-gaming, ready to finish their night of fine dining with a Korean rice dog or something.) Are they being served well by it? Probably not as well as they should be. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Orik Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 7 hours ago, Sneakeater said: I mean, yeah, sure, this is infinitely better than Popeye's. But on the other hand, Popeye's isn't bad. And it costs A LOT less. This is like Wilfrid's complaint that the universally acclaimed and imitated Ssäm bar buns were twelvety times more expensive than the gnarly things sold under the Manhattan bridge. That $13 beer doesn't help. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
joethefoodie Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 15 minutes ago, Orik said: That $13 beer doesn't help. It's funny but I was going to (should have) asked @Sneakeater for the breakdown. $13 beer $10 fries $16 sandwich??? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 And $2 ranch dressing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sneakeater Posted September 24, 2022 Share Posted September 24, 2022 (I should note that they have almost no soft drinks -- and absolutely no palatable ones.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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