Brown Bag Burgers

Does Brown Bag Burgers have the world’s best fried chicken? Many connoisseurs believe it is.

When we first reviewed it for Gourmet magazine in 1999, we wrote, “Like aged country ham, it might seem almost too intense:  spicy, salty, crunchy all at once.  But as tongue-shock settles, taste buds crave more; and after a few bites, one’s whole world very quickly shrinks to nothing other than this amazing fried chicken and the rapturous necessity of devouring every edible morsel of it.”

Now the uniquely spicy, insanely crunchy, ridiculously succulent chicken is ours for the eating. Thanks to the urgings of Kentucky food authority,  Louis Hatchett, it is listed on the Brown Bag Burgers menu as Roadfood Fried Chicken.

There’s a whole huge diner menu of burgers, sandwiches, BBQ, and breakfast. Beyond bird, all I’ve tried is hash browns, which are wonderful: an entire potato, freshly grated, and fried to a crisp. But really, what does any of the other stuff matter when you’re in the presence of chicken like this?