When he first added fried chicken and waffles to his menu, Carl Cassell was nervous about how his customers would react.
“We were concerned that people would go, ‘What? Waffles with chicken?’ ” says the chef and owner of Toronto’s Harlem and Harlem Underground restaurants.
But Mr. Cassell soon found that he had no reason to worry. A year later, the dish has become one of the most popular items at his two eateries, and fried chicken has become the comfort food du jour.
“There’s some pretty high-end [restaurants] that have gone the fried-chicken route,” Mr. Cassell says. “Like, okay, I guess it’s ... a new trend on the block.”
From the fervour over KFC’s Double Down sandwich to the more refined renditions served at upscale restaurants, the popularity of the humble fried chicken has reached new heights. As the food website Epicurious accurately predicted last year, fried chicken has become one of the top food trends of 2010. Today, chefs everywhere, and at every level of the food chain, are getting in on the crispy, battered, deep-fried action.
Fried chicken appeared on the menu of this summer’s extravagant wedding of celebrated Chicago chef Art Smith and artist Jesus Salgueiro. It is also reportedly a highlight of chef Marcus Samuelsson’s hotly anticipated Red Rooster restaurant, slated to open this fall in New York. Last month, Toronto chef Lynn Crawford announced on Twitter that she was offering buttermilk fried chicken at her restaurant, Ruby Watchco, for “the first time EVER!” And new restaurants from Vancouver’s casual Lucy’s Eastside Diner to The Counter at Toronto’s luxury Thompson Hotel are serving it to customers who can’t seem to get enough.
“A lot of the younger chefs are understanding that there’s nothing wrong with fried chicken, whereas 20 years ago, no ... high-end chef in his right mind would ever even consider doing fried chicken because of the ego factor and all that kind of stuff,” says Vancouver chef Robert Belcham, who was ahead of the trend when he introduced “fried chicken Fridays” at Fuel restaurant two years ago.
His dish, which uses heritage breed Redbro chickens, was such a surprise hit with customers that he made it a regular menu item when the restaurant was revamped and renamed Refuel last year.
But since industry heavyweights such as U.S. chefs Thomas Keller and David Chang started serving fried chicken at Ad Hoc restaurant in Yountville, Calif., and New York’s Momofuku Noodle Bar respectively, others jumped on the trend.
Earlier this month, Delta Airlines consulting chef Michelle Bernstein told CNN that she is planning to introduce cold fried chicken to the airline’s premium-class section next year. “The texture is a little different when you eat cold fried chicken and it’s one of my favourite things in the whole wide world,” Ms. Bernstein said.
Robert Mills, executive chef at the Thompson Hotel, says, “We’re selling so much [fried chicken], it’s hard to keep up.”
Mr. Mills says he believes that diners are flocking to restaurants for fried chicken because they crave the kind of classic, home-cooked dishes that their parents or grandparents used to serve but that “they just don’t know how” to prepare themselves.
Besides, he adds, “the actual concept of deep-frying in a condo doesn’t work any more, so that’s probably part of it as well: They can’t.”
As simple as frying chicken might be in theory, some restaurants take a fair amount of time and effort to perfect it, marinating it for days and even bathing it for hours sous-vide, before dredging it and dunking it in a deep-fat fryer.
Anthony Rose, executive chef at the Drake Hotel in Toronto, who recently reintroduced southern fried chicken thighs to his new fall menu, suggests that the current craze signals a change in people’s attitude toward food that has been thought of as bad for you.
“For years, everyone was told red meat is crap, deep frying is crap,” he says. “I don’t see anything wrong with it, as long as you’re not eating fried chicken every day of the week.”
While a deep-fried bird can hardly be considered health food, it’s good for the soul, he says. “It’s really fulfilling and makes your heart warm.”
At Lucy’s Eastside Diner, owner Erv Salvador agrees with Mr. Rose’s theory. “People want this stuff every once in a while. As good as people eat in today’s society, there’s always going to be a cheat day,” he says.
Mr. Salvador says the fried chicken breasts his diner serves, marinated in buttermilk and coated with panko, alongside mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables, has been a big seller since the eatery opened this month.
But even though many chefs insist on its enduring appeal, fried chicken’s top-food-trend status may not last long.
Mr. Belcham says he is already considering scaling back on the dish, and may bring it back only for fried-chicken Fridays. “We think it’s a very special thing,” he says, “and to have it on the menu all the time sort of takes away a little bit from that.”
