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APB: Harold’s Chicken Shack
Posted on Friday, July 15 @ 07:42:52 PDT
Topic: Miscellaneous
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About fifty years ago, Harold Pierce noticed that the major fast food chains tended to avoid African-American neighborhoods in Chicago’s South Side. His protest took the form of starting his own restaurant, Harold’s Chicken Shack. Over the years, dozens of Harold’s franchises have popped up in and around Chicago, winning the love of both casual consumers and more particular palates. And, though it seems to have gone largely unnoticed, “The Fried Chicken King” has now opened in the Dallas area. On to the food...
[Unfortunately, Harold's Chicken Shack is no longer operating in this location. I don't know if they've moved or simply gone away. ]
Harold’s sits on an outparcel of a Walmart Supercenter at 3155 W. Wheatland Road, just east of Highway 67 and south of I-20 (near Duncanville). The shoebox of a location is carry-out only. Chairs and pictures of venerable Chicago locations of Harold’s line the walls of a small waiting room. Orders are placed at a large window, through which the entirety of the kitchen (very clean) is clearly visible.
The menu mostly consists of chicken options (plus some catfish). White meat, dark meat, wings, gizzards, and livers--all fried. I ordered a “1/2 Dark” dinner, which came out to two drumsticks and two thighs sitting on a bed of fries and a slice of white bread, with mild sauce and coleslaw on the side. All for $4.75.
Harold’s chicken is fried to order, coming out ultra-crisp and too hot to handle. The meat remained moist and tender. The light, peppery exterior was delicious. Though the chicken was excellent on its own, the sauce put it over the edge. The sweetness, vinegar acidity, and gentle spiciness were a perfect match for the dark meat.
I ordered the chicken dry, so I could better tell the quality of the meat without the distraction of a sauce. But Harold’s chicken is intended to be eaten slathered in sauce--hot, mild, or (as one exceedingly knowledgeable Chicagoan recommended to me) a happy medium of the two.
-- Poulet en papillote
After they drizzle the sauce over the chicken, the basket is covered with a couple of tissuey sheets of paper and slipped into a bag whose opening is rolled tightly closed. Once in the bag, the crisp skin begins to soak in the sauces, gradually softening. Sauce and the bird’s juices drip down to be absorbed by the fries and slice of white bread at the bottom of the basket.
After just a minute or so of steaming in the sack, there’s a pleasing mix of crispness and saucy softness in both chicken and fries. (Leaving it in the bag too long will reduce skin and fries to mush. So don’t expect to drive it home to Plano before eating.) The hot sauce adds a vinegary nose to the mélange and balances out the sweetness of the mild sauce. But, for those who grew up with the Southern tradition of eating fried chicken with honey, the sweetness of the mild sauce might not need any balancing at all.
Harold’s chicken was very good stuff, blowing the curve for fried chicken at this price point. I only wish they’d opened the store closer to my home, not that the 15-minute drive south will keep me from going from time to time.
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