Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Pollo Loco: Chicken Charlie vs. Bonchon Chicken, and Don Henrico's Buffalo Wings

I first saw the flyers of Chicken Charlie at the condo lobby. Intrigued, I decided to try it. When I called for my order, the operator said I had to wait for an hour to an hour and  a half because of the heavy volume of orders and they only cook the chicken after the order is placed. I wasn't really famished, so I decided to wait. After almost two hours, my order came.
chicken charlie's soy garlic chicken
First off, the chicken has no coating, which I prefer. The skin was crisp, and the meat tender. I thought the flavors were sauce options, until further search of the delivery box yielded no packets. It's okay--I like my fried chicken without the gravy. Usually, I pair bland fried chicken with fish sauce anyway. I'm skeptical about Chicken Charlie's claim that double frying renders a less greasy chicken, but it seems to be so. The chicken is different all right, but I find it cloying.

The next day I reheated some of the chicken. The skin was less crisp, but the meat was still okay.
day-old chicken
Later in the day I tried soy chicken of Bonchon, which online research say uses the same double-frying technique popular in Korea and New York.
bonchon's spicy and non-spicy soy garlic chicken

I like Bonchon's version more: it's juicier, and without the cloying aftertaste.

A few weeks earlier we ate ordered the of Don Henrico's, a homegrown Italian restaurant.
with or without the sauce, the buffalo wings are great
Their Buffalo Wings are consistently good. Since the chicken is already flavorful, I forego with the dip, which is also very good.

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