Editor’s Note: This is an expanded version of an article that appears in “Classic Comforts,” the cover story in the December issue. For this article, SLM tasted several of the year’s more buzzworthy birds, everyday menu items at their respective restaurants. In an upcoming article, we’ll visit and evaluate several of St. Louis’ long-standing chicken institutions.
There are more than a few condemned men who ask for fried chicken as their final meal in prison. We totally get it.
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Fried chicken exerts a primal, animal pull on our appetites. Opinions are fiercely divided as to which restaurant – and which family relative – does it best.
Our thoroughly unscientific and completely delicious research yielded these top-five choices.
5. Piccadilly at Manhattan
The traditional fried chicken at this pride-of-the-neighborhood pub is light and crispy, with hot juices bursting from the bird. Unlike our other picks, the dredging flour tastes light on the seasoning, which in turn makes the taste of the cooking oil more prominent. In any case, this chicken is unpretentious and dependable. (If it were a St. Louis Football Cardinal, it would be Dan Dierdorf.) Whether you’re eating chicken or just drinking a beer, it’s a pleasure to hang out at this watering hole, but first you’ll have to find it; it’s the only retail business on an otherwise residential corner of Maplewood. 7201 Piccadilly, 314-646-0016, thepiccadilly.com
4. Three Flags Tavern
Great tectonic plates of decadent crust enclose the juicy meat of this chicken, and you’ll want to order an extra helping of the slightly sour biscuits, too. The gravy served on the side is a “veloute,” the French word for velvet and one of the five French “mother sauces.” It’s made with chicken stock, butter, flour and seasonings. 4940 Southwest, 314-669-9222, threeflagstavern.com
3. Amigo Joe’s
The more of the habanero fried chicken you eat at Amigo Joe’s, the better it gets. It starts as a craving and becomes an addiction. Pressure-fried chicken gets spicy here, from a habanero marinade, and it’s easy to see how it has created a cult. It’s just stupendous. The breading may emerge from the fryer in extra-thick hunks on some pieces, which is just more to love for crust-fiends. At $5.49, the half-chicken lunch special is a mountain of food and a steal. Non-spicy fried chicken is available, too. 5901 Southwest, 314-645-1995, amigojoesstl.com
2. Old Standard
The new kid in town is already among the best. Old Standard’s dark, deep, mysterious fried chicken has a crispy-crunchy crust with a reddish cast, and juicy meat that retains a salty flavor from the brine. Humanely raised, hormone-free Amish chicken is brined; dredged in spiced flour, buttermilk, and then flour again; and pressure-fried to retain moistness. The bird sports a crust that’s less oily and more crunchy than usual, and, points out owner Ben Poremba, it’s firm enough to be removed in one continuous piece. Crumbs are simply not allowed.
Poremba claims that he ate fried chicken at some 500 restaurants around the U.S. in a quest to create the best – and gained 45 pounds in the process. This chicken is good enough to be used in the Southern tradition of eating cold fried chicken, too, he added.
Old Standard’s menu of other comfort-food goodies sounds so decadent – and no more so than at Sunday brunch. Look for dressed (deviled) eggs, a grilled pimento cheese sandwich, cornbread dressing with fried chicken gravy and egg, and bread pudding with pears and whiskey sauce. 1621 Tower Grove, 314-899-9000, oldstandard.co
1. Juniper
Juniper chef-owner John Perkins may say he strives for a Southern-cuisine humility, but if this chicken is humble, I hope none of us ever gets rich. How does the white meat of the breast stay so juicy? What is in the spiced batter that fries up into the deep furrows of the crunchy crust, building a poetry of light and shadow? Then again, who cares? The best fried chicken in town tastes like sin on the tongue. It is not to be questioned, but merely to be savored… slowly. 360 N. Boyle, 314-329-7696, junipereats.com
