Tag: chicken

finding the best fried chicken

Somebody recently used our (underutilized) “Contact Us” form to ask: “Where’s the best fried chicken?” I can answer this one.

This was at Monte Ne Inn. All they serve is fried chicken and sides. You get a table, and they bring the food out. There’s no ordering, except for a drink and then later cobbler with ice cream (which is also great). They bring all the food you want. Worth a visit if you’re ever in northwest Arkansas.

The best fried chicken is at my mom’s house. Unfortunately, her house is not open as a restaurant, so you don’t get to experience it. I can tell you about how she makes it, though. She buys the whole chicken, cuts it up, puts on a breading, and fries it. Then she uses the grease to make gravy (milk-based, Southern style) to go on biscuits and homemade mashed potatoes. This is one of the best meals possible. It’s time-consuming, but worth it.

Which restaurant has the best fried chicken? That’s hard to answer. I don’t often get fried chicken at restaurants anymore because it’s somewhat disappointing by comparison. I would recommend looking for some country-style kitchen where they cook everything from scratch. Find one that’s not a chain, where it’s older people working there, who cook for others because they like to. A place where the food is cooked to be delicious, rather than squeezing out more profits. A place where they use real butter. We have a few of these where I live, and the food is consistently good.

There are probably chain restaurants with good fried chicken. You could ask for suggestions from friends who have similar taste preferences. If you ask online, you’ll get answers that will include almost every restaurant*. Perhaps you should make this your own adventure quest: over the next few months, try different restaurants to see whose is the best. It’s a fun time. 🙂

I wish I had more answers on this. Ultimately, the best option is learning to cook it yourself. It’s more work that way, but it tastes better, and it saves you money, too.

* I saw this with an online discussion for the best pizza place in my town. It was funny for how absurd it was. People listed every single pizza place there is, including gas stations and the lowest-cost pizza places where the main emphasis is the low-cost. Someone mentioned a place that’s more famous for children’s games and parties, where the pizza is definitely not high quality. I don’t want to dis’ them by name, because they all have a role, if that’s what you’re looking for, and we all have our preferences. But to say they have the best pizza is absurd. I recommend asking friends who like the same restaurants as you.

What do you think about the idea of a food adventure quest where you find the best instance of a type of food in your city?

chicken nuggets with caviar

At the 2025 US Open, they had some strange food choices this year. The tournament is non-profit, yet they charge so much money, even $400 for a grounds pass, which doesn’t get you into the main stadium. (There’s a backstory there regarding the money, but that’s beyond today’s post.)

Supposedly the regular chicken nuggets were $26, which is crazy. But they also offered chicken nuggets topped with caviar (fish eggs) for $100. Have a look:

Even if I had enough extra money to drop $100 on a meal for one, I wouldn’t get this. I just don’t get it. It seems like people who eat caviar typically wouldn’t order chicken nuggets. Or am I missing something here? And if your customers are willing to pay $100 for a quick meal, couldn’t you offer something really awesome and still make a nice profit? (And yet they’re non-profit.)

What do you think? Would you even consider ordering chicken nuggets with caviar for $100?

Is a burger a sandwich?

If you’re with a group of friends and looking for something to discuss, here’s an idea. Also, this works particularly well at a restaurant, since it’s about food. You could start the discussion with the premise of, “I heard something unusual and want to get more opinions on it.” Then ask:

“Is a cheeseburger a sandwich?”

Then just sit back and watch… 🙂

It’s obviously a simple question, but it often provokes debate. One could argue that it’s just meat and cheese and toppings between slices of bread, which is what a sandwich is. The counter argument is that it’s grilled food, so it’s not just a sandwich. Also, it just seems wrong to call it a sandwich. They seem like different categories of food.

Someone may argue that a sandwich is made with sliced meat, deli-style, which seems like a valid point. However, many restaurants sell a chicken sandwich which has fried or grilled chicken. If someone claims the chicken sandwich is mislabeled, then ask if it’s a chicken burger. 🙂

FYI, according to an official definition at Britannica, a burger is a sandwich, but feel free to draw your own conclusions.

If the topic was fun to discuss, follow it up with, “Is a hot dog a sandwich?”

Do dinosaurs taste like chicken?

Let’s continue the last post about having dinosaurs in my backyard. Supposedly all birds are dinosaurs. Even chickens. So you can say that dinosaurs taste like chicken. 🙂

To consider all birds to be dinosaurs seems crazy to me, but what do I know? So I did an internet search about whether birds are dinosaurs. (Are you ready to go down a rabbit hole filled with dinosaurs? Read on!) Check out this answer to whether birds evolved from dinosaurs or reptiles:

The answer is both, but with a crucial clarification: birds evolved from dinosaurs, which themselves are a subgroup of reptiles. Think of it like this: all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. Similarly, all birds are dinosaurs (specifically theropod dinosaurs), but not all dinosaurs are birds. And both birds and dinosaurs are within the broader group of reptiles.

So dinosaurs were reptiles, which then became birds. Except not all dinosaurs are birds. And birds are reptiles. Got that?

I’ll admit it’s been a few years since I was in school, but that’s not what I learned. Still, I read on, and saw this on the same page:

The closest living relatives of dinosaurs (excluding birds, which are dinosaurs) are crocodilians (crocodiles, alligators, and gharials). They share a more distant common ancestor with dinosaurs than birds do.

So crocodilians are more closely related to dinosaurs than birds, but birds are dinosaurs. I think I’m getting more confused… But I’ll keep reading. Maybe it’ll all make sense soon.

What about the pterodactyls, the flying dinosaurs? Is that where birds draw their lineage?

Pterosaurs, including pterodactyls, were flying reptiles, but they are not directly related to birds.

So there were flying dinosaurs, but they’re not related to birds. Apparently the flying birds came from dinosaurs that didn’t fly. I don’t know if they had useless wings or if they somehow developed wings and learned to fly. Honestly, there’s a lot about the theory of evolution that just doesn’t make sense. I know it’s often taught as fact, but it doesn’t add up and there’s a lot of missing evidence. I suppose you just say “over millions of years” and it’s supposed to be acceptable. Nonetheless, let’s continue this rabbit hole. There’s more weirdness you probably don’t know.

The chicken is currently considered the closest living relative to the Tyrannosaurus Rex. This is based on genetic and anatomical evidence.

That’s interesting! So not only does a T-Rex taste like chicken, it WAS a chicken! Or rather, it became a chicken. So the next time you watch the movie Jurassic Park, imagine a giant chicken chasing them in the Jeep. 🙂 Or, we can let AI imagine it…

Now you know a great conversation piece — you know what dinosaurs taste like! You can ask people what they think dinosaurs (or specifically a T.Rex) might taste like, or tell them you ate a dinosaur the other day (if you eat chicken), or that you saw a dinosaur in your back yard.