![]() ![]() Harold's Chicken Shack #55 in West Chatham is generally considered one of the city's best, and the chicken shows why: fresh-fried, tender and juicy, with a crispy exterior dripping with #55's delicious mild sauce, laid on a slice of bread next to a bed of fries (also with mild sauce, obviously) - all the best of what Harold's has to offer. Chicago's iconic string of fried-chicken joints, founded by Harold Pierce in 1950, is synonymous with the South Side, and local's love for the poultry is not to be tested: Washington rapper Wale was booed in 2011 in Chicago over this reference: "This here's overrated/But I love your city, baby." The best Harold's locations live on the South Side, and each one is a little different, since Harold's have long been franchise-able with few stipulations, resulting in slight changes on pricing, menu items, sauces, etc. It would not - could not - be a proper gallery of Black food on the South Side without Harold's Chicken. Those lucky enough to find a spot in the small parking lot often use their trunks as a table otherwise, you can eat on the precariously leaning stainless steel ledge that lines the front of this holy hickory-smoked house of barbecue. The restaurant finally accepts credit cards but is still takeout only. Visit Lem's, and you'll invariably find a line that stretches out the side entry door (which needs to stay closed, you will be reminded). Fries soak in the tangy house-made sauce below, with slices of white bread shrouded in paper on the side. ![]() ![]() His family, who continues his legacy working the aquarium smoker at Lem's Bar-B-Q in Greater Grand Crossing, created the JBL special in his memory: It's a pair of golden fried chicken wings over two ribs, one hot link and a hefty pile of the fabled rib tips. The late, great pitmaster James Barry Lemons was one of the prophets of the cut that defines Chicago-style barbecue: rib tips. ![]()
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