Vancouver restaurants share their secrets to fried chicken perfection

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      If the thought of a battered, deep-fried chicken drumstick gets you salivating, Paul Langins can relate.

      “Fried chicken is a drug in its own way. It satisfies a hankering,” says Langins, sous chef at Refuel (1944 West 4th Avenue), where their fried chicken “fix” will have you obsessively sucking every last bit of delicious grease off of your fingers. And no, don’t even think about comparing this chicken to the KFC variety.

      Make no mistake about it. Fried chicken isn’t the healthiest of foods, and Langins fully admits it. That’s why Refuel only features it on treat Fridays, when $18 will get you three pieces of chicken, a jalapeno biscuit, gravy, and vinegary coleslaw. Come summer, they also offer daily fried-chicken takeaway “picnic” options. (Expect to spend $35 for a six-piece meal.) (Update March 14, 2012; Refuel has announced that the restaurant is closing after March 24, 2012.)

      Refuel’s chicken tastes so good because, as cheesy as it sounds, it’s made with love. And it starts with the meat itself: Polderside Farms redbro heritage chicken raised free-run in Yarrow. Langins marinates it in buttermilk, salt, and pepper for a week, and then cooks it sous vide for eight hours.

      Standing in the open kitchen, Langins demonstrates how, with every order, the chicken pieces are dredged in a flour mixture (paprika, cayenne, bay leaf, salt, and pepper), then buttermilk, and then flour again before being deep fried in beef tallow for a few minutes. Take a bite: first you get the crispy outer batter shell, then the soft inner coating, and then you hit the unbelievably tender meat. It’s revelatory.

      It seems every restaurant has its own take on the fried bird. Tableau Bar Bistro (1181 Melville Street) does a mean fried chicken and waffle for Sunday brunch ($15), as does Two Chefs and a Table (305 Alexander Street; 7-3331 Viking Way, Richmond) for brunch and lunch ($13.50 and $13), and Hidden Tasting Bar & Social Lounge (433 Robson Street) for lunch and dinner ($16). At St. Augustine’s (2360 Commercial Drive), executive chef Herman Wong says he’s going for “the whole comfort thing with a little bit of a twist”. For his version, he brines the chicken for 24 hours in a mixture of water, lemons, sugar, peppercorns, bay leaves, and thyme. He then coats the chicken in buttermilk, and twice in flour spiced with salt, pepper, paprika, sage, parsley, thyme, rosemary, and marjoram.

      The chicken is then deep fried three times, initially once for 10 minutes at a lower heat. With each order, it’s fried for a second time for a couple minutes, allowed to rest, and then fried for another minute. He also tosses whole garlic cloves and rosemary sprigs in the oil as crispy morsels to nosh on, and serves it along with the beer-battered onion rings, creamy coleslaw, and miso mushroom gravy accompaniments ($16).

      Wong sits at a St. Augustine’s table and leans in to reveal his personal favourite fried-chicken joint: L.A. Chicken (160-11780 Thorpe Road, Richmond). “The chicken is juicy. They get the skin crispy. And you can order a side of rice,” he says.

      L.A. Chicken is a nondescript fast-food outlet that you’d easily miss if you aren’t in the know. Wong is bang on, though. Chicken is made to order, and the flour batter, especially for the spicy version, is so crunchy and satisfying that you almost don’t need the juicy meat. A four-piece chicken dinner ($11.89) comes with fries, a choice of salad (potato salad, creamy coleslaw, or macaroni salad), gravy, and either original or spicy fried chicken. If you’re feeding the whole family and they’re extra ravenous, a 20-piece box of chicken will set you back $31.99.

      Fried chicken Asian-style also does the trick. My Chau (1715A Kingsway) sells Vietnamese fried chicken legs (ga chien) for $4 a pop, or $7.25 with rice (com ga). It’s basically an unbreaded, crisped deep-fried chicken leg—simple, yet expertly done. The meat is chopped up into seven or so pieces, which makes it easy for dipping into the fish sauce that comes with it.

      Another fried-chicken expert is Chris Kim, chef/owner of Zabu Chicken (1635 Robson Street), who worked previously in Seoul for KyoChon, one of the largest, most popular fried-chicken restaurants in South Korea. Suffice it to say, he knows his chicken. His version is marinated in a mixture that includes soy, garlic, honey, onion, apple, and pineapple. The mixture takes two to three months before it reaches its optimal depth of flavour. If you visit, you can glimpse Kim in the back, coating the chicken in a batter of flour and water, triple frying it, and then brushing it with the sweet soy garlic marinade.

      A whole chicken is $19.95, or go for drumsticks (five pieces for $9.50), wings (12 pieces for $13.95), or a wing/drumstick combo (large for $19.95). During a recent visit, a group of Korean students were busy digging into a plateful of wings. They looked pretty darn satisfied.

      Comments

      10 Comments

      Jill Magee-Fosdick

      Mar 7, 2012 at 1:07pm

      The fried chicken at Chewies in Kits is amazing! Must try!

      Eddy Hardy

      Mar 7, 2012 at 1:50pm

      Duffin's Donuts. Best fast food fried chicken in the whole lower mainland.

      Trini

      Mar 7, 2012 at 2:42pm

      Choices fried chicken breasts from their over priced hot foods section is actually amazing.

      Gentleman Jack

      Mar 7, 2012 at 3:20pm

      This food will cause damage to your body. Beef tallow in the deep fryer?? He's trying to kill you!

      stan ree

      Mar 9, 2012 at 5:32pm

      35 bucks for 6 pieces of chicken is way too steep.

      hamsup

      Mar 12, 2012 at 1:50pm

      LA chicken is the BEST fried chicken joint in the lower mainland. Friendly owners who always have a smile on their faces. Also, their fries aren't very good make sure you order the SPUDS.

      bill

      Mar 19, 2012 at 10:24pm

      re: stan ree

      It wasn't 35 bucks for 6 pieces of chicken. Please don't be that naive.

      IIRC, it was 6 pieces of their wonderful chicken, 4 cans of pop/water, your choice of multiple jalapeno biscuits or green salads plus watermelon. Napkins and place settings for 4 plus the carrying container for the whole thing.

      Awesome chicken ... sad to see Refuel go.

      Jason

      Mar 26, 2012 at 11:53pm

      I lived in Korea for few years. I loved the original place of KyoChon chicken. But this place is just another mocking Korean Chicken place. I would say DA SA RANG chicken in Lougheed Korean town centre, is much much better in quality wise and taste wise. One more thing to mention is that REALLY OVER PRICED for using bottom grade chicken. They seem like using very bad quality frying oil and low grade chicken.

      MDee

      Apr 17, 2012 at 11:04am

      Vancouver really lacks in quality non-asian restaurants. There's like 3 southern-bbq restaurants in all of lower mainland. There's practically no gumbo to be had anywhere, same with fried catfish. This is food from the same continent we're on, someone needs to start a restaurant with those, they won't have any competition. As for fried chicken, it's either KFC or overpriced and overspiced chicken which doesn't taste anything you'd get in the States...

      K

      Sep 20, 2013 at 11:52am

      THE BEST fried chicken in the city is Red Rooster Broasted Chicken. search it up and test it out, its hands down the best in the city