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| - "I'm taking you out tonight for your belated birthday dinner, KP, where do you want to go?" my friend asked me, as though the sky was the limit. For me, ever since I was little girl, birthdays and a bucket of KFC go together like Rob Ford and a crack pipe. I missed my Colonel fix this year because my b-day fell on Mother's Day and my daughter thought a bucket was "too tacky" so I COOKED MY OWN FRIGGIN CHICKEN. I roasted it with lemon and garlic and it was delicious but! was there any finger licking? No, no there was not.
Laura is a gadabout in the east hoods and knows her shit, like some of you elite yelpers. She suggested The County in Riverside. She mumbled the word "hipster" at some point but said they had an amazing cocktail menu and so yes.
Saturday night in Riverside: We got there early (before 7) and got in without reservations, although I am normally a bar sitter, we got a table and then watched the place fill up. Date night and double date night, holy Noah's Ark, I didn't know people were still coupling up. There goes my theory of the evolution of the human race turning back into amoebas. Oh well.
THE VERY HOT AUSTRALIAN WAITER WAS VERY HOT.
Perusing the menu, Laura suggested a bunch of stuff to share, as all the appetizers are very delicious. She had been there before and was all jonesing on the steak tartare, but when mine eyes have seen the glory of the buttermilk fried chicken platter, I was all like "LAURA WE NEED TO HAVE THIS!"
We ordered two cocktails. Mine was Black Betty ( tequila, blackberries, lemon, more stuff $14) and in all earnestness, I have never met a drink I didn't like ,so yum and Laura gave me a sip of hers, Johnny Feel Fine (rum, pineapple, lime, mint, more stuff) and I had a bit of drink envy...double yum.
We had two appetizers: Chick pea fries...I know, WEIRD! What could that possibly look like? It was ground up chick peas shaped into finger sized french fries and served with salsa verde. Surprisingly delish.
We also had duck spring rolls with hoisin sauce and ginger slaw. Oh wow. There were only 3 on the platter and we were 2, I had no idea how that would play out but Laura gave me the third one! I devoured it with glee.
Just as a head's up: There is a lot of cilantro going on in this restaurant. I know it's one of those things you either love or hate, and there is even science backing up the haters so I won't pull a stink eye on you like I do with people with "gluten insensitivity." I am in the love group but if it tastes like soap to you, most of it is in garnish form so you can ask to leave it out.
Then came the FRIED CHICKEN! The very hot Australian waiter placed a sheet of paper on our table and dumped the chicken pieces out in a pile and shook on some Texas mop sauce on top and some sprigs of cilantro (!) and gave us some homemade sauces and dips with 4 biscuits and slaw. I saw some other yelp review comparing this to KFC (without actually having eaten it) and $40 for "just fried chicken" was steep. Just. Fried. Chicken. I get emotional over fried chicken. Fried chicken is my religion. I actually make a pretty mean fried chicken based on the Stockyards recipe but it is a little labour intensive and you have to worry about oil temperature and keeping everything even. I love to try other places and get variety. My dirty secret is that I still love KFC but only when I'm slumming it up. Like in a mall food court where calories don't actually count.
The chicken here is cut up in small pieces, some have the bones and some don't...me like bone to suck. The buttermilk biscuits were awesome, they tasted almost cheesy, maybe they had cheddar? In spite of all the sauces, I liked the chicken plain the best but Laura created a mixture of ranch and home-made tabasco that was her dipping jam. We washed it down with a Beau's IPA tall boy as we tried to pace ourselves. But I kept eating more pieces, hoping to find bone inside, sometimes hit, sometimes miss. THERE WAS A LOT OF FOOD THERE. We both slipped into a coma at some point and woke up to the very hot Australian waiter wrapping up the remaining 3 pieces which Laura let me have.
We both thought we would never eat or drink again. We needed to walk home (to Jones for Laura, Coxwell for me) and by the time we got to Pape, a cleansing ale was in order so we ducked into a pub for a pint. The next morning I unwrapped the chicken pieces like it was Christmas and I had them for breakfast. One of them had a bone! I've been sucking on it all morning.
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