Fried Chicken Faceoff 2008

[Mr. Irreverent]

So a few months ago my friend and his wife and I had an argument over which fried chicken joint is the best in the LA area; I raved about Roscoe's and she loved Pioneer and my friend swore by Church's. The debate got pretty heated so finally we decided the only way to settle this was to do a fried chicken faceoff involving all of the fried chicken joints we could think of. Three months later we rallied some troops and got a total of 11 different fried chicken joints all at one sitting. (I wish we would have had 2 more, but that's a whole lot of chicken...) Anyways, I thought I would share the results...

Participating Chicken Joints:

1) Dinah's (Culver City)
2) Louisiana Fried Chicken
3) Church's Chicken
4) Big Mike's (Bellflower???)
5) Some Random Chinese Joint (They won't tell me...)
6) Popeye's
7) Pioneer Chicken
8) Donahoo's Golden Chicken (Pomona)
9) KFC
10) Honey's Kettle (Culver City)
11) Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles


I believe we're missing the "Chinese" chicken in this picture, it came late.


Some close-ups... the battle lines were drawn!


Apparently chicken wasn't enough., GOOD GOD!!!

For the purpose of scoring the chicken we were not allowed to know the brand/type of chicken we were getting (in an attempt to keep things honest) and we were to score them from 1-5 (5 being the best) in three different categories: Best Skin, The Juiciest, and The Tastiest. Lastly, an overall score was calculated from the previous three tally's. There were a total of 15 judges.

The Results:

Best Overall Fried Chicken:
1st Place (3 way tie)
Louisiana Fried Chicken, Big Mike's & Pioneer Chicken
2nd Place
Honey's Kettle
3rd Place
Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles
WORST:
Dinah's

Best Skin:
1st Place:
Pioneer Chicken
2nd Place: (2 way tie)
Big Mike's & the random Chinese joint
3rd Place: (2 way tie)
Honey's Kettle & Popeye's
WORST:
Dinah's & KFC

Juiciest Chicken:
1st Place:
Honey's Kettle
2nd Place: (2 way tie)
Big Mike's & Louisiana Fried Chicken
3rd PLace:
Pioneer Chicken
WORST: (2 way tie)
Dinah's & Donahoo's Golden Chicken

The Tastiest Flavor:
1st Place:
Louisiana Fried Chicken
2nd Place:
Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles
3rd Place:
Big Mike's
WORST:
Dinah's

Mr. I's personal observations:
* If you like your fried chicken a little spicy you're going to love Louisiana Fried Chicken. I actually thought it was going to run away with first place because everyone was raving about it.
* Dinah's chicken is not bad, but it's something they put in their flavoring that really stuck out like a sore thumb against the rest.
* KFC has the ****tiest skin, but in defense of KFC they have those secret herbs and spices that are no match for any other joint.
* Pioneer chicken was very good, it's too bad they almost all went under back in the mid 80's.
* I'm still a little fuzzy on this Big Mike chicken, I'm not sure my friend gave me the right details when I input all of the results. I'll obviously update this if needed.
* The random Chinese chicken joint's skin had a THICK layer of cornstarch which gave it a really crisp texture.
* I got HIGH off eating all this chicken, clearly I didn't finish all eleven pieces.
* I wish we could have gotten Golden Bird and Pollo Campero in the mix, but I guess it was not meant to be. NEXT TIME!!!

[Rob2716]

Just seeing all the chicken made me queasy. Seeing the side orders on top of that had me cringing.

Two thumbs up on the analysis. Blind tasting. Many categories. Excellent effort.

It's been ages since I've had fried chicken. Might have to go find some at lunch time today.

[MaxwellSmart]

That's awesome! Great analysis and pictures.

I actually worked at a Pioneer chicken for almost a year back in high school. I thought they were all gone. Where is the one you went to?

[santiclaws]

Originally Posted by MaxwellSmart

That's awesome! Great analysis and pictures.

I actually worked at a Pioneer chicken for almost a year back in high school. I thought they were all gone. Where is the one you went to?

I don't believe there are many left. I think the only one I know of is on Olympic just east of Fairfax.

[Nicholls9]

MMM Pioneer! I need to try this Louisianna chicken you speak of.

Be glad you didn't include Pollo Campero, well at least it would have given Dinah's a run for worst.

[Annapurna]

Cool! That sounds like fun.

I big on golden bird. I love their chicken strips.

[FlyinKIng]

Wow, big fan of Roscoes!!! But you needed to include Mrs. Knotts chicken, thats some of the best!
Where is Louisiana Fried Chicken located?

[job]

The Pioneer Chicken stand pwns all.

[ketel&tonic]

hungry.

[davidc1968]

Where is Louisiana Fried Chicken located?[/quote]

Yes, please tell.

[OTTo VoN BLoTTo]

GREAT work!!! LUUUUVED Pioneer as a kid. Didn't even know it was still around.

[Henry1515]

I hear that Knotts has a great fried chicken place...

[Mr. Irreverent]

Originally Posted by davidc1968

Where is Louisiana Fried Chicken located?

Yes, please tell.

Pick your poison!

[CarriedBySix]

This is ****ing awesome Rev...very cool analysis!
Too bad I'm in Santa Barbara or I'd give Louisiana Fried a go.

will give you Karma, but...have to wait to reload.

A little bird just tought me a lesson in Karma I wont soon forget.
:D
thanks.

[Sticky]

I make a pretty good fried chicken. My trick is frying it until it is golden brown on both sides, and then baking it for another 25-30 mins at 350. It seals in the juices.

My "secret" ingredient is nutmeg.

[Mr. Irreverent]

Originally Posted by Sticky

I make a pretty good fried chicken. My trick is frying it until it is golden brown on both sides, and then baking it for another 25-30 mins at 350. It seals in the juices.

My \"secret\" ingredient is nutmeg.

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