Best Fried Chicken, Sweet Tea In Norman
0 Comments Ryan Welton on Thursday, October 11, 2007 at 11:25 PM.Tonight's blog is fueled by the fine folks at Chicken Express, whose fried delights I sampled for the first time tonight.
Typically, I do not eat much fast food. However, on Thursday night, I grab a little something on the way home, and for the past several weeks it has been fried chicken. Over the years, I had classified fried chicken joints by what they're good at.
KFC has always been great with their cole slaw, and I have always loved their gravy, which Col. Sanders once described as tasting like wallpaper paste.
Popeye's chicken is better than KFC's, and their biscuits are the best in the business.
Now, if I remember right, I never really liked Church's although I came away impressed with their mashed potatoes and gravy once. It was really close to homemade.
However, all three places can kiss it goodbye because one of the 47 million sports radio stations in the OKC metro area (KREF) has Chicken Express as an advertiser. They said they had the best sweet tea in the state, and they noted their Norman location.
Long story short, I had a three-piece combo -- breast, thigh and leg -- with mashed potatoes and gravy, a biscuit and a giant sweet tea.
Their chicken, swear to God, is the closest thing to homemade I have ever had commercially. The crunchy skin actually tore off like homemade fried batter would, and the meat was juicy and not fast-food dry.
Their mashed potatoes aren't quite as good as Church's or KFCs, but they were adequate.
Popeye's biscuit is a dab better than Chicken Express', but one could make a good case for theirs. The bread was thick, battery and tasty.
However, the coup d'etat was the tea. If you've read this blog for long at all, you'd know that my favorite tea is what the fine folks at Mikeska's in El Campo dish out.
This is what Chicken Express has. It is virtually the same recipe, and it is by a mile they best tea I have had in Oklahoma.
Now, I should note that I'm also a big fan of Red Diamond by the jug. However, the folks at Chicken Express will sell you some sweet tea by the jug as well, and I think I'm taking some home over the weekend. I don't want to say for sure that it's as good as Mikeska's until I taste it again, but between their chicken, their bread and their tea, it is by far the standard for fried chicken joints in Oklahoma, at least as far as I know.
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Quick sports note: Colorado again looked dominating in a 5-1 win over Arizona. Before the playoffs were even set, I told a Boston Red Sox-loving colleague of mine that it would be a Rox-Red Sox World Series and that Boston would win.
However, I think I could be wrong about that. No, not the World Series matchup. The winner. The Rockies, knock on wood because I'm enjoying the heck out of it, are putting on a playoff clinic, and it is empirical proof that offensive clubs in parks where balls carry can win.
Are my Texas Rangers paying attention?
Colorado isn't winning games 13-11. They're winning 4-2 and 5-1 and 2-1, and their middle relief has been out of this world.
Of course, I also think the Rockies have been incredibly fortunate so far. If San Diego manager Bud Black had just kept that wild lefty Thatcher in the game, the Padres would likely be playing the D-Backs in the NLCS.
It's what for now makes them look like a team of destiny.
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