Last Updated on Monday, 04 June 2012 19:32

Dozen Best Fried Chicken Restaurants

In the 1960s and before, fried chicken was considered a gourmet dish. Then, just as they did to the hamburger, the mass-production restaurants moved in on fried chicken and ruined its reputation. Fortunately, good fried chicken still exists. Below are the dozen restaurants in which I've found the best fried chickens in the New Orleans area.

The main criterion of fried chicken excellence is the crust. Different from most fried foods, a crispy coating on fried chicken is not necessarily essential. More important an interesting flavor dominated by herbs, with pepper as a background flavor.

The next two hallmarks of great fried chicken are that it comes out hot and greaseless. Frying to order is the trick there. But frying a chicken takes fifteen or twenty minutes. Being told that it will take awhile to is a good sign. Fried chicken on a buffet is to be avoided.

1. Dunbar's. Uptown: 501 Pine. 504-861-5451. Scarcity adds to the enjoyment. On the Dominican campus of Loyola, it's not open all the time. But this is the same great chicken that Dunbar's served on Freret Street before the hurricane. Great with their red beans.

2. Jacques-Imo's. Riverbend: 8324 Oak. 504-861-0886. This is the chicken recipe of the late Fried Chicken Master of the Universe, Austin Leslie. He worked at Jacques-Imo's when it first opened, and left the recipe behind.

3. Buddy's Poor Boys. Metairie: 1645 Veterans Blvd. 504-834-6315. Tiny poor boy shop, well-hidden in Metairie. But the chicken is fried to order and worth the wait. (Photo above.)

4. Cafe 615 (Da Wabbit). Gretna: 615 Kepler. 504-365-1225. Not only good fried chicken, but wonderful barbecued chicken, too. Very, very busy.

5. Praline Connection. Marigny: 542 Frenchmen. 504-943-3934. Excellent chickens, both fried and baked, with the city's best crowder peas on the side.

6. Sal and Judy's. Lacombe: 27491 Highway 190. 985-882-9443. What is fried chicken doing in an Italian restaurant? Don't know, but there it is, all four pieces, right out of the fryer, Pretty good with some spaghetti marinara on the side.

7. Dooky Chase. Mid-City: 2301 Orleans Ave. 504-821-0600. One of the great names in Creole cooking, Leah Chase's fried chicken isn't her signature dish, but it stands up with the best of them.

8. Mr. Ed's. Metairie: 1001 Live Oak. 504-838-0022. Fried to order, generously abetted with sides, just like you remember from the days when every neighborhood restaurant made fried chicken.

9. Lüke. CBD: 333 St Charles Ave. 504-378-2840. The fried chicken turns up at lunch and brunch here, with waffles!

10. Li'l Dizzy's Cafe. CBD: 610 Poydras. 504-212-5656. The successor to Eddie's--one of the great soul food restaurants of all time--still makes fine fried chicken, but they usually have it out on the buffet. Ask for it to be made for you and you'll see how good it is.

11. Deanie's on Hayne. New Orleans East: 7350 Hayne Blvd. 504-606-1458. An obscure but long-running seafood house in the oldest part of New Orleans East, the fried chicken is always on the menu. Which they were open for dinner more often than just Fridays. Not associated with Deanie's in Bucktown.

12. Fury's. Metairie: 724 Martin Behrman Ave. 504-834-5646. "Honey, that's going to take twenty minutes," they'll tell you. Pass the time with a cup of gumbo or a pile of onion rings. And tell them to season it a lot more than they usually do.