Buttermilk Fried Chicken - Town Hall, SF

There’s a reason that Town Hall has had buttermilk fried chicken as a menu staple since their inception. It is just awesome. It’s the best fried chicken you may have in the last year, or perhaps your lifetime. It is simply that good. Perfect batter crunch, and sweetly tender inside, the fried chicken comes with smashed potatoes slurred with a fantastic country bacon gravy. (A colleague who had it reckoned it was the best country gravy she’d ever tasted.) The veggies are seasonal: either collard greens or, here, a chop of summer squash and tomatoes. At mid-year, Town Hall’s buttermilk fried chicken is the best fried chicken of 2009, and gets our highest grade (awesome).

Buttermilk Fried Chicken (detail), Town Hall SF

The Grade: Awesome

The Damage: $22

The Skinny: Town Hall

342 Howard Street, San Francisco CA
Phone: (415) 908-3900
Website: http://www.townhallsf.com/

Buttermilk Fried Chicken (bacar, SF)

Caveat emptor: the buttermilk fried chicken at bacar was part of a special July 4th weekend dinner that also included ribs, cole slaw, and a honey-drizzled slab of cornbread (see pic below).

But the fried chicken skin was so light and crispy and the chicken so  perfectly juicy, that I really hope they consider adding it to the menu as a more regular item. Slightly piquant, the batter was really great.

The waiter came by to say the fried chicken had soaked in buttermilk for 12 hours. Nothing like buttermilk to break down meat, making it incredibly tender. This is among the best fried chickens I’ve had in 2009, and gets my highest grade (awesome).

The Grade: Awesome

The Damage: $18

The Inside Tip: Order wines cautiously. Bacar’s wines by the glass tend to be expensive. Keep the wine list at your table so you’re not surprised at the bill.

The Skinny: bacar

448 Brannan St., San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: (415) 904-4100
Website: http://www.bacarsf.com/ 

Buttermilk Fried Chicken (with BBQ ribs, slaw, cornbread)

 

Louisiana Fried Chicken + Dirty Rice

Sometimes your body needs fried chicken. It’s not a passing urge; it’s a downright need. Your body says, “Give me fried chicken or I will do something crazy. Fried chicken, now. FRIED CHICKEN!!” 

There are a bunch of chicken chains more famous, and you can’t speak out for consistent quality across each franchise of a chain, but I must say that Louisiana Fried Chicken is killer. Super-crisp skin and drip-on-your-fingers juicy chicken. Get a two-piece or three-piece with a small side (instead of the combo with side, which is more expensive). Dirty, dirty, dirty rice. I want to wag my finger at you like Stephen Colbert, but I’ve already eaten you. 

Did I say how kick ass the chicken is, for a chicken chain?  And it’s about the only thing near AT&T Park you can get for this price before a Giants game. Skip those heinous raw garlic fries at the stadium; get your Louisiana Fried Chicken on, you orange and black screamers. Home runs here.

The Grade: Awesome 

(highest grade)

The Damage: around $6 for 2-piece chicken only with small side

Otherwise your mileage may vary.

The Skinny: Louisiana Fried Chicken

90 Locations, including Cambodia!!!
But let’s be practical:

761 Third Street, San Francisco CA
Phone: I doubt they’d answer it if I gave it to you.
Website: http://www.louisianafriedchicken.com/ (It’s annoying and not nearly as compelling as this review)