Given the amount of comments in the off-season around your favorite pizza place, I figured I’d shift the Fodder for Filibustering to an off-season Foodie post, and see where it takes us. I noted several places from the comments that I’ll need to start visiting on weekends to come, so thanks for the comments, memories, and suggestions for next stops.
Editor’s note – given my last post about modern sports media, please know this is not for engagement farming, but just for good conversation. I see the irony…and it’s not intentional!
Today’s topic – the tailgate staple, fried chicken.
Personally, I have a few favorites, but some are currently active and some I haven’t tried in many, many year. The key to great fried chicken, I’m sure, is the temperature of the cooking agent and that agent should likely not be vegetable oil, but lard. Delicious, artery-clogging lard. As such, here’s my quick picks for great fried chicken:
- Publix – though it seems it may have been better in years past, but still a go-to staple whenever I need to go to a tailgate and don’t have much time, or if I need to sit in the parking lot and cry and eat. Either way, chef’s kiss.
- Buckner’s Family Restaurant – Jackson, Georgia – Served on lazy Susans, family style, it’s what I like in a fried chicken – all you can damn well eat. Plus the chicken is good, too.
- Po Folks – I don’t even know if they exist anymore, but Po Folks (I think now Folks, because we’re all poor nowadays, aren’t we?) fried chicken served next to a Chicken Fried Steak was a staple for me in my youth. Not sure if it’s still as good, but it serves my memory as freaking great.
- Bulloch House – Warm Springs, Georgia – last I checked, the place burned down, probably because it was already floating in grease from the fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, fried pies, fried beans, fried souvenir socks, and fried ice tea. Still, if it was all fried together, maybe the symphony of various fried foods made the chicken a culinary masterpiece.
- The Dillard House – Dillard, Georgia – maybe it was because I had to wait so long to eat whenever we drove up there, but I recall their fried chicken being divine.
How about you…it’s not very comprehensive, and for some reason I’m realizing I don’t eat a lot of fried chicken outside of Georgia. Maybe some of the chicken at the Beau Rivage was good, but like all good casino trips, I don’t rightly recall.
Have at it in the comments.
I’m a big Publix fried chicken fan too. They do good work with chicken. Dillard House! Wow, the memories there. We also used to go to LaPrades on Lake Burton. I remember it being outstanding too, but like you maybe it was because you are starving by the time you get seated to eat and they start dropping plates of food on the tables. My favorite part of going there was going by boat.
Here in Perry there is a joint called Skipper John’s that we love. They have a chicken side of the menu and seafood side. Unfortunately, they don’t jive with a getting up to Athens early to tailgate schedule.
My mother’s fried chicken cooked in bacon grease.
Couldn’t be beat.
I’ve heard the Dillard House thinks a lot of itself now with their prices and doesn’t deliver. My wife read some recent reviews before we went up there last summer to spend a few days in Clayton, and she said we’re not going to spend that kind of money for what could be a spotty experience.
For the fast food chains, I prefer Bojangle’s over Popeye’s due to the NC connection, but I wouldn’t drive past a Popeye’s to get to a Bo’s if I want fried chicken.
For places that went out of business years ago and I wish still existed, Pap’s Fried Chicken in Sylvester was our family’s spot. Otis can probably relate. My mom decided frying chicken wasn’t worth the trouble when she could send one of us downtown to the tracks and pick up a box.
Po Folks had great chicken back in the day. Cracker Barrel still can do it and do it well. The food coma is worth it.
Gus’s in Chamblee is pretty darn good. Mary Mac’s on Ponce is still awesome.
In Nashville, I prefer Prince’s over Hattie B’s, but both are good.
WifeSaver Augusta Georgia. Nothing finer in the land.
Don’t forget the banana pudding
I host tailgate parties at my house before home games. Some folks come in from Augusta and they always bring this. It’s always a big hit.
Also for the big list, don’t sleep on Food for the Soul in Athens.
I’m like Jim1886. Nothing could beat mama’s fried chicken cooked in Crisco.
Maryland Fried Chicken is a darn good eat also. If you every have been to Albany there was a place called Aunt Fannies, it’s closed now but man they had some excellent fried chicken.
For grocery store chicken, Lowes Foods beats Publix.
The chicken at the Daniel Boone Inn in Boone NC is well worth the visit.
When I was a kid we’d go buy groceries bout every 2wks and get Bojangles on the way home (ironic?). Then my first – drive my own car to work – job was at a Bojangles. Had a manager who would let us cook food and take it home. He was busy on the phone w his girlfriend(s?) and didn’t care what we did as long as the job got done. Good times. Still love their chicken biscuits too. And what side in the world is better than dirty rice?
Yeah it’s an emotional attachment, but hard to beat the chicken as well, especially coupled w that hot sauce – yum.
Cajun Filet Biscuit at Bojangles hits hard
Publix’ fried chicken is hard to beat for its consistency among grocery stores/chains. Greenwood’s in Roswell used to have the best “restaurant”/dining fried chicken around….
Am also partial to the Popeye’s on Main Street in Jacksonville, where the manager told us a couple of years ago that he “only sells to winners!” (so we have kept going back…)
As an FYI, our neighborhood had a “chicken finger” taste test about a year ago given all of the new places opening around, and I was sorely tempted to drive back to Savannah and pick up some Spanky’s to put them all to shame, but sadly could not make it happen!
+1 for Greenwoods. Best lemon-pepper-honey fried chicken I’ve ever had.
Publix fried or roasted is never a bad choice. For fast food Popeye’s is my personal favorite KFC is my least it sure has gone downhill.
Speaking of downhill that was definitely my last experience at the Dillard house. We used to go a couple of times a year. The last two trips the food was not nearly as good. Of course they’ve gotten mighty proud of it too.
If you’re ever hungry in Chattanooga try Bea’s kitchen for great fried chicken. Very much like Buckner’s in Jackson.
Hit Bea’s up on a road trip 20ish years ago, was very good!
The Bulloch House in Warm Springs is still serving pulley bones. Still pretty good chicken.
I don’t see how one ranks anything above Buckner’s, let alone a grocery store based in Florida. I’ve been planning trips around Buckner’s stops for decades now.
One other suggestion: head to Katherine’s Kitchen at 129 and I-85 and get a box of chicken to take to the race at Jefferson Motor Speedway. But get you a time machine before you go because the restaurant is now a tire store and the racetrack hasn’t been used since Chase Elliott was a teenager.
JEFFCO
Man that’s a throwback. The KK Ham biscuits were the best.
Ivery’s in Thomson.
https://iverysrestaurant.net/about-us
I like Popeye’s. The occasional feather or two is a nice, earthy touch, too.
Mama’s was the best! I will never understand how she could fry it in a cast iron frying pan and cooked perfectly done and never a burned spot on skin. I think that is a lost art!! Oh well, l like Publix okay, but the Skipper John’s in Perry is really good!
I saw a Bojangle’s going up near me in Houston and I was ecstatic. Then the first visit I found it was one of those crippled “Bo’s” finger-only places. Bleh! I like dark meat. If I’m going to eat just chicken fingers, Cane’s is where I’ll go. So for now, my go-to for fried chicken (the entire chicken, not just their fingers) is Popeye’s. Every once in a blue moon, I’ll go to Church’s because they have good fried okra.
Cracker Barrel is good, especially on road trips.
I think the Dillard House starting going downhill about 20 years ago. I used to love it. Over the years it seemed to get a little worse each time we went. I have not been in probably 5 years. Sad.
Babes, Burleson TX…..
Drop the mic
https://babeschicken.com/locations/burleson/
I think the Bulloch House re-opened after the fire. I’m just not sure where. Ingles on the Atlanta Hwy. in Athens used to have very good chicken back when I lived there.
The Bulloch House indeed reopened after the fire. It took over what was a previous place called the Victoria Tea Room. Instead of being on the way out of town towards Manchester it is now downtown Warm Springs.
You must not be very far from me. I live between Rendon and Mansfield and do like me some Babe’s.
We frequent the Babe’s in Carrollton, TX. LOVE me some Babe’s!
The Chase Street Cafe (now a parking lot) had great fried chicken. The owner would buy from one of the chicken processing plants in town and serve it the next day. His mother served me the first time I went in for lunch. She put my plate in front of me piled high like they did for all the working folks. So much food it took my appetite. I ate until I was full and pushed the plate away. She walked by and pushed it back in front of me just like my mother telling me to clean my plate. I ate all I could, looked up at her, and she nodded her head that I could leave, I went back a few days later and she gave me smaller servings.
BIG CHICK JACKSON GEORGIA GREAT CHICKEN BEST YOU WILL EVER EAT
Several have mentioned Mom’s or Grandma’s home fried chicken. I agree both in quality and that it’s a lost art. I’m a fair hand in the kitchen and mine is passable but nothing like my assorted Grandma’s used to make so… I’ll stick with the grill and leave the chicken frying to the pros.
Publix is good, a little too salty here at my local store.
Kroger’s is excellent and cheap.
The chain stores are too greasy.
There’s a Chester’s kiosk in a local gas station that has really good chicken. A few yummy pieces of fried chicken and a jar of Jalapeno peppers. Good Stuff.
Off topic, but am I the only one having issues with this site freezing up? Unfreezes after a minute or two, but often enough and long enough that I cant take it anymore. Im not having the issue with any other websites so I dont think my phone is the issue.
The old Ember’s restaurant in Moultrie. If you got their early you could score a pully bone.
Don’t know it – I’ve only ever driven through Moultrie – but ‘old’ ‘Ember’s’ and ‘pully bone’ tell me you know good fried chicken.
I have a soft spot for Zaxby’s because I worked at one while I attended UGA (but didn’t come close to graduating) and there aren’t any near me in Maryland.
South City Kitchen is one of my favorites.
Any love for Guthrie’s circa 1980’s-90’s?
I tell my kids all the time that this Cane’s crap is mush compared to peak Guthrie’s. Last time I had Guthrie’s was in Orange Beach about a decade ago, not sure if it’s still there, but it was still just as good. Guthrie’s and the penny-cleaning sauce was definitely on point.
We have a Guthries about two blocks from our house. It’s wonderful.
Summit Chase CC in Snellville back in the 80s. Carl was the chef and he made the best fried chicken. I miss Carl and that place. Good people.
There was a place on Peachtree near Piedmont Hospital called Watershed that had fantastic fried chicken, but I think it’s closed now. South City Kitchen has great fried chicken. For old school flavor it’s hard to beat Mary Mac’s or Hattie B’s. OK Cafe off W. Paces Ferry is pretty good, too.
There was a place in the King Plow area called Carvers that was phenomenal all the way around. They served what they called Dolly Parton chicken beasts, because of the size. Best I ever had after what my mom.cooked when I was growing up
Big Chic in Carrollton Georgia. I grew up there and didnt know about this place until I got to college at West Georgia. A frat brother told me the chick was so good it makes his d–k hard. It was pretty damn good,
There is one clear answer for me: my mother’s. Second choice is my aunt on my father’s side. Aunt on my mother’s side only got take out for her fried chicken, probably KFC. Don’t know if she cooked much, but she had other good qualities. They are all gone now. 🙁
*sigh*
DDB’s post prompted this:
I lost my kid sister 1/3 to an illness. She was 55 years old. Now it’s just me an Ma Cowdog, who has some challenges. (I’m not counting Sis’s kids or mine, they weren’t there for the show)
She could cook. She had a potty-mouth that would make Russ Dunn proud. She was a flaming pain in the ass and took after her damn Daddy. She loved everything with more legs than us especially the tripod Labrador. Her wishes were in lieu of flowers send donations to Commerce Veterinary Hospital’s Indigent Animal Fund/ Rainbow Bridge.
Because we went through the mill together, we never pulled a punch and brutal honesty with a dash of “You dumbass” was the way we spoke. She had a penchant for sarcasm and the big loud laugh that I have.
Selfishly, I’ve lost a great confidant and a great friend.
Her fried chicken was pretty good.
Carters fried chicken americus
BFC chicken in Brussels, Belgium near Grand Place – as a redneck from southeast GA, I can confirm, even if it is run by a bunch of Turks… don’t know how they do it but it tastes like my grandmamas in Cochran and Jesup! hammer down.