5 Fried Chicken Entrées in the Los Angeles Area You Must Try This Fall

Cuisine all around the world has its variances depending on the location and region. While each culture has its own flavors and uniquer ingredients, many places utilize the same base dish to deliver the flavor. For example, you can find fried chicken just about anywhere in the world. However, the flavor of the fried chicken will greatly depend on your location and where you get it from. Sure fried chicken in itself tastes great, but many places like to add their own personal twist to fried chicken. Check out these five places in the greater Los Angeles area that you can get some tasty and unique fried chicken.

5. Howlin’ Rays‘s Nashville Hot Chicken

When a place takes upwards of two hours from getting in line to receiving food for customers, that either means they work slowly or they have sky-high demand. Luckily for Howlin’ Ray’s, they fall under the latter case. In fact, they even boast when their line only takes an hour to get through. So this Howlin’ Ray’s place in Los Angeles’ Chinatown only opens for five hours on five days of the week. No matter what day or time you go there, expect to wait at least an hour to finally receive your food. Why does it take that long? Howlin’ Ray’s makes the best Nashville Hot Chicken this side of the Mississippi. Nashville Hot Chicken does not taste like any ordinary spicy chicken – it has its own unique combination of savory, zest, zing, tart, and spice that no other type of chicken can match. You could only find better Nashville Hot Chicken in Nashville itself. If you find that you have up to two hours to kill, why not spend it waiting for some Nashville Hot Chicken from Howlin’ Ray’s?

4. Jumping Däk‘s Korean Fried Chicken

If you visit Jumping Däk, you will get Korean Fried Chicken and not much else, but you will get Korean Fried Chicken made very well! Having just opened about a year ago, Jumping Däk boasts a menu specializing in the savory food, along with sides and desserts to accompany the main course. This fast-casual restaurant replaced an old Hawaiian BBQ fast-food restaurant that never really saw too many customers. However, with the recent opening of a ramen restaurant next door, it made sense to open something here to take advantage of the overflow of the ramen restaurant’s customers, and here we have Jumping Däk. For those who have never tasted Korean Fried Chicken, luckily Jumping Däk provides samples of their three flavors: Sweet, Spicy (pictured below), and Fiery. Sweet and Fiery explain themselves, while Spicy represents a happy medium of the Sweet and Fiery. Basically, imagine popcorn chicken tossed in their signature sauces. Customers can enjoy this Korean Fried Chicken a la carte, as a sandwich, or as a combo with sides and a drink.

3. Densetsu no Sutadonya‘s Karaage Don

We moved from Nashville to Korea, and now we move to Japan. Fried chicken exists all over Asia, and each country does their fried chicken a little differently. In the case of Japan, each city or region cooks differently. However, for the major cities of Japan, they have a locally popular place called Densetsu no Sutadonya, known for their Sutadon. The word Sutadon consists of “suta” for stamina and “don” for bowl, so Sutadon literally means “stamina bowl” in Japanese. While originally found in Japan, Southern California now has a Densetsu no Sutadonya in Mitsuwa Marketplace in Torrance. This location prepares food the same way they do in Japan – using extremely high temperatures to cook everything quickly and all at once. You can taste this best in their Karaage Don. They basically flash-fry the meat, so it gets cooked without having it soak in all the oil. That way you can enjoy the chicken’s true flavor instead of a mouthful of oil.

2. Abigaile Restaurant‘s Fried (Jidori) Chicken

Have you heard of Kobe Beef? Kobe Beef represents a higher quality of beef, much higher than that of Angus beef. A higher quality grade of meat applies to more than just beef – it applies to chicken too, but in this case, we refer to it as Jidori Chicken. Just like how Kobe Beef tastes better than normal beef, Jidori Chicken tastes better than regular chicken, and you can taste the difference at Abigaile Restaurant in Hermosa Beach. Although appearing upscale and fancy, Abigaile actually functions like a casual gastropub, especially given their location by the beach so that beachgoers can dine at Abigaile without worry of their outfit. Perhaps Abigaile appears upscale due to their food menu, which contains some highly eclectic items such as their simply named Fried Chicken. Abigaile’s approach to Jidori Chicken contains togarashi in the batter, giving it a kick in each bite without the need for sauce. Speaking of sauce, this chicken comes with housemade hot sauce and preserved lemon gribiche, along with papaya slaw. $15 allows you to taste this upscale version of fried chicken.

1. Jimmy’s Famous Tavern‘s Southern Fried Chicken

If you seek classic American cuisine with an artisanal touch, look no further than Jimmy’s Famous American Tavern (JFAT). Reinventing traditional restaurant faire, JFAT covers many grounds of cuisine familiar to many with their high-quality approach to cooking. Currently boasting five locations between Los Angeles County, Orange County, and San Diego County, JFAT takes what you know about traditional American restaurants and turns it up to eleven. Between brunch, lunch, dinner, and a full bar, any time of the day makes for a great time to stop on by JFAT and enjoy a bite or sip or more. Any time of the day makes a great time to sink your teeth into JFAT’s Southern Fried Chicken. The batter contains Herbes de Provence, which gives the chicken so much flavor that you do not need any sauce or condiment for it – enjoy the chicken on its own for true bliss. Anyway, this fried chicken comes served with garlic mashed potatoes, thyme gravy, and green beans, all for $20 a plate.

Heat Seekers – KFC Stands For Korean Fried Chicken at Jumping Däk Savory Chicken

While corporate chains tend to pose problems for local mom & pop shops, sometimes they can revitalize an area. An area may lack cultural diversity, sometimes due to the location or the local population’s culture or inability to adapt new ways. When a corporate chain steps in, sure they bring in the same thing that all of their other locations carry, but this can bring about change in the location that they step into. For example, think about a Kentucky Fried Chicken opening in China. Traditionally, fried chicken represents a foreign concept to the Chinese. However, the introduction of Kentucky Fried Chicken in China proved successful, as the local population got hooked on this American-style fried chicken. They got hooked on it so much that Eastern culture tried to imitate it and create their own version, which led to the eventual creation of Korean Fried Chicken. Lots of Korean restaurants and shops now serve Korean Fried Chicken, such as the recently-opened Jumping Däk.

If you visit Jumping Däk, you will get Korean Fried Chicken and not much else, but you will get Korean Fried Chicken made very well! Having just opened less than a month ago, Jumping Däk boasts a menu specializing in the savory food, along with sides and desserts to accompany the main course. This fast-casual restaurant replaced an old Hawaiian BBQ fast-food restaurant that never really saw too many customers. However, with the recent opening of a ramen restaurant next door, it made sense to open something here to take advantage of the overflow of the ramen restaurant’s customers, and here we have Jumping Däk. For those who have never tasted Korean Fried Chicken, luckily Jumping Däk provides samples of their three flavors: Sweet, Spicy (pictured below), and Fiery. Sweet and Fiery explain themselves, while Spicy represents a happy medium of the Sweet and Fiery. Basically, imagine popcorn chicken tossed in their signature sauces. Customers can enjoy this Korean Fried Chicken a la carte, as a sandwich, or as a combo with sides and a drink. Jumping Däk also utilizes a unique method for a dessert: Preferé Ice Cream. If you have seen or used a Keurig machine before, this concept will feel familiar. They take a small sealed cup of ice cream and place it in the top of the machine, which then dispenses soft-serve ice cream. I personally have not tried it yet, so I cannot attest if it tastes better than regular soft-serve ice cream – I will save that for a future blog post.

Jumping Däk opened their first location in Buena Park in early December 2016. They said they have plans to open additional locations, including a second location somewhere in Northern California. To see what they have planned for 2017, make sure you like them on Facebook for updates as they come. In the meantime, make sure you visit Jumping Däk in Buena Park soon and experience some real KFC for yourself. At Jumping Däk, KFC stands for Korean Fried Chicken, not that other corporate place.