The Chicken Man

Usually these food reviews are the result of a Monday with Bo. Mondays are Bo’s only wonderful day off from the harsh world of the pizza game and unfortunately many small family owned restaurants are closed on Mondays; That is the case for Rudy Jr’s Chicken Man. When Pablo (AKA Greg) called me up on a Wednesday at lunch time and asked if I wanted to do a food review I knew exactly where I wanted to go.  We pulled up at Chicken Man at around noon and it looked to be pretty crowded, we heard murmurs when we got inside that it had recently been featured in The Bee as the “Best Fried Chicken” in town.  We were greeted with a loud hello bellowing out of the kitchen and were told to take our seats.  

 

The first thing you may notice is that the restaurant owners have quite an affinity for NASCAR racing.  There were posters, cutouts, pictures, and autographs all over the walls.  That, along with the checkered tablecloths, faux wood , and ceiling fans gave this place far more of a country feel than I was expecting.   It was busy and we waited a while to get our menus and waters but by the looks of all our friendly neighbors' plates it was more than worth the wait.

The menu looked pretty great and fairly simple.  I knew that I was going to get fried chicken, that’s why I was there.  They had a chicken plate that was essentially a la carte that came with 4 pieces of chicken for less than $6.00.  Pablo wanted to go big so he got the Chicken & Ribs dinner ($14.69) that came with ribs, two pieces of chicken, salad, beans, garlic bread, and “fat fries”.  The service was friendly and full of character and to be fair was quite slow but the server was taking care of the entire place by herself in what she said was an unusually busy lunch rush.  Pablo’s salad came out and was fairly plain but looked good and tided him over as we chatted all things Dead in Sixty.

 

The food came out hot and looking great. My chicken was just a simple plate of 

goodness.  Four pieces of chicken on a plate.  When I took a bite it was fabulous.  A very thin and crunchy batter, extremely moist chicken, and was dripping more juices than grease.  It had all the qualities you want in fried chicken.  It was not very bready in the batter department in contrast to other places I have been but was still full of flavor.  Pablo’s (GREG‘s) Chicken and Rib dinner came out, a plate packed to the brim.  The chicken was the same as what I just described but his came with ribs; big old pork spare ribs. They were covered in bbq sauce and cooked till tender.  The flavor of the sauce was fantastic and the ribs were tender but still had some chew on them.  The beans made Pablo pretty happy which surprised him.  The garlic bread was great.  I adore bread, especially when it is garlic bread, it was and always is, a welcome addition.  The “Fat Fries” were crunchy on the out side mushy in the middle and were also delish.  It was a great and filling meal.

Rudy Jr’s Chicken Man was great !!!!  I am going to have to get around a little more before crowning it the champion of fried chicken but it was good.  If you like eating next to a signed picture of Jeff Gordon than this is the restaurant for you.  No matter what though, this place is definitely - DEAD IN 60 APPROVED !!!