Koreans do it well...

...fried chicken that is. I've been fiending for some really good fried chicken lately. I set off on a journey to find some that would satisfy my need for crunchy, salty, chickeny goodness. I stumbled upon BBQ Chicken in the east village after doing alittle online research. When you see the words BBQ you automatically think bar-b-q, but this is not the case with this joint. I don't know if it was some sort of unfortunate language translation mishap, but in this case BBQ Chicken actually stands for, Best of the Best Quality Chicken. Weird huh? This Korean fast food transplant has recently opened shop in NYC and are franchising quickly, so stay tuned for the fried chicken expert invading your town soon.

Regardless of the funky name, this place did chicken justice. Here is the kicker, they fry the chicken in extra virgin olive oil! Yea that's right, EVOO (someone please kill Rachael Ray). This technique made the chicken very crispy, crunchy, surprisingly moist but not super greasy. I would best describe it as a Popeye's style fried chicken with sophistication.

I went for the 3 piece combo ($8.95), 2 legs, 1 thigh, waffle fries, coleslaw and a biscuit. The sides were garbage.

As you can see the leg was super juicy.

And since I'm a fatty, I went for an extra order of chicken wings (just to try a few and then to be consumed late night in a drunken stupor). No sauce, just slightly spicy with the same crunch and flavor. Fabulously good. They had other flavors such as garlic and super duper spicy.

Funny thing is I ate both legs, the thigh and a few wings and didn't feel sick at all. Normally consuming a meal like would have left me feeling gross and coated in chickeny fattiness. But because of the olive oil, I felt surprising like light and extremely satisfied.

So thanks to the mysterious Korean Corporation that came up with this wonderful idea. I wish you nothing but luck in your quest for complete fried chicken world domination.

-J