Back in August, we announced the opening of a brand new Bon Chon location in Turtle Bay, but never got around to a full review. Since I’ve never been to Bon Chon (criminal, I know), I decided it was most definitely time for me to venture over.  Korean fried chicken places can get a bit expensive if you aren’t careful, but there are four lunch specials on the menu that all clock in at under $10: BonChon Chicken Lunch, LaFrieda Korean Bulgogi Burger + Frite, Balsamic House Salad, and BonChon Marinated Chicken Fried Rice.

The namesake chicken lunch ($8) consisted of 5 wings and 1 drumstick, in either Hot & Spicy or Soy Garlic flavor. I got the hot and spicy, and it was nice and spicy without being uncomfortable. The skin on the chicken was crispy, and the wings were clearly fresh out of the fryer. In my opinion, they could have been a bit saucier, but once again I am a BonChon newbie, so maybe this is just how they are?

I had very high hopes for the burger ($9). LaFrieda? Check. Bulgogi? Double check. Unfortunately, the result did not live up to the expectations. The burger was small and overcooked, and had none of the juiciness, sweetness, or fattiness I generally associate with bulgogi. The lettuce and thin slice of cucumber were an afterthought and added little to the burger.

Another thing I need to mention is the fact that the service was very slow. I would try to do takeout unless you have a full hour for lunch, and stick to the chicken if you’re going to go for a lunch special. The one other item in the ML range I would be interested in trying is the Seoul Rice Bowl ($10): marinated steak or spicy chicken, mushroom, and local vegetables.  But considering what they did with the burger, I might just stick with what I know is going to be good: aka the chicken.

BonChon, 957 2nd Ave (btw. 51+50th), 212-308-8810

It looks like the days of Mad For Chicken being a “hidden bar for those in the know” are all but gone.  Yesterday they put this big honkin’ sign up announcing the news that was reported last month… Mad For Chicken is now Mono + Mono. Based on what we heard from the staff when the name change was announced (and this report from the new downtown branch) things aren’t expected to change considerably. They updated the menu a few months ago to include maki and some bar foods, but it sounds like there isn’t going to be anything new or exciting beyond what we’ve already seen. That doesn’t mean that a return visit isn’t warranted, just to be sure… y’know, for science.

Related:
Mad For Chicken to Become Mono + Mono
Korean-Fried-Chicken-Palooza: Kyochon vs. Bon Chon vs. Mad For Chicken

Now that the newish Koreatown location of Bon Chon has had a couple months to settle in, it’s time to really give them the once over. The opening was much more low-key than Kyochon’s, there haven’t been any lines out the door or anything, which is a good sign. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been some long waits and service confusion. See what we’ve found after the jump.

The biggest problem with the new location is that they seem understaffed. Three people deal with seating dine-in customers, taking orders at the counter, providing table service, bussing tables and getting the food from the kitchen. It can get hectic quickly and often leads to long waits. That said, the staff is very friendly and helps as much as they can.

Really, what keeps me going back is the food.

The chicken is still as good as ever and is definitely coming out faster than I’ve ever seen it. I got this small, mixed, spicy order ($7.99) in maybe 10 minutes. At Mad For Chicken across the street, the same order of what’s basically the same chicken would take easily twice that time.

The shell is still a crispy, spicy candy coating and the flesh is juicy and delicious. The small, mixed order comes with one drumstick and 4 wings.

What really interested me from the initial reports was a more expansive menu (beyond the fried chicken.) I can’t say I’ve ever paid a lot of attention to what other food is on the menu at the other Korean Fried Chicken places. Given the ordeal usually involved with ordering and waiting, I typically only go when I’m craving that tasty tasty fried deliciousness.

Now that the chicken is so much easier to get, it’s time to explore the other options.

First up are the fabled bulgogi tacos. I’ve pined after these ever since I got had my first Kogi Taco in Los Angeles. We’ve seen them pop up at Sagaponack in Flatiron, and Chris H. has been investigating at Pro Hot Korean, Cafe Duke and Bann Next Door.

I don’t know that they quite fall under what I’d call a taco. narrow and fully wrapped, it’s sort of more like a skinny burrito filled with beef and aioli with a little lettuce thrown in. The tortilla is flour, which I’m not so into and the aioli is a little heavy, but it’s a step in the right direction.

One of my biggest complaints about the new Bon Chon is that they seem to be perpetually out of certain items on the menu. On no less than three occasions, I ordered the Pork Katsu and was told that they ran out. The first time that happened, I tried the Chicken Katsu, but it’s just not the same. I mean, katsu is schnitzel is milanese and at the end of the day it’s just going to be better with pork. This is no different. It was fine, if a little dry, but certainly not anything to get excited about.

On a later failed attempt to get Pork Katsu, I was recommended the scallion pancake by my waitress. I’d read plenty of commenters in the forums talk about scallion pancakes, but never tried them before. With no frame of reference, I can’t say how it compares to others’ but I certainly enjoyed it. Thick and cakey, it was filled with chili peppers, scallions and carrots adding spice and crunch to each bite. It’s more than likely the first vegetarian lunch I’ve had in years and I walked away surprisingly satisfied.

The waitress also offered me a couple other dips in addition to the sweet soy sauce that came with it. The chili aioli and the wasabi mayo were both tasty, but given how heavy the pancake was, I thought they were a bit much.

Bon Chon also serves beer, which may be just the right tension breaker on a particularly hectic day, but be careful which you order. They’ve got a mix of good craft beers and mass market stuff, but, like the katsu, they often seem to be out of the things on the menu. Worse, while they have happy hours selling $2 buds, the good stuff like the Hawaii’s Kona Longboard Lager costs a whopping $8!

Overall, the new Bon Chon still needs to work out some particulars, but has jumped a major hurdle with the speed of cranking out the chicken. The rest of the menu is pretty good and makes for a good alternative or addition to the fried chicken, but some consistency in what’s available would really help.

The + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• Korean Fried Chicken in 10 minutes? I’m there!
• I have to have a bulgogi taco even if it’s a burrito.

The – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• The staff is small and can get really thrown off when they get slammed. Give these guys some help.
• Well over a month in, they’re still regularly out of dishes. Either stock enough or take them off the menu!

Bon Chon, 325 Fifth Ave (btw 32+33rd), 212-686-8282

When I saw Luncher Dan L.’s report in the forums that a new cart had opened up on Fifth Avenue serving Korean Fried Chicken, dumplings and other Korean food, I knew I had to check it out.

The cart is called Boki and it’s currently serving five dishes, each around $4-5. They’re passing out samples of spicy rice cakes and curry kimchi rice to passersby. The rice cake I tried was gummy but had a nice kick in that sauce. Not sure if I would try a whole order, but I did like the sample.

For lunch, I ordered the pork dumplings and of course, the ‘Korean Fried Chicken.’

The dumplings were a disappointment. The shells were tough and hard to bite into. Inside wasn’t much better. If there was any pork mixed in with the noodle slivers and mushy veggies, I certainly couldn’t tell.

The chicken was better, but definitely not anything I would call Korean Fried Chicken. It reminded me more of the chicken served from deep fryer carts in Chinatown. The flavor was more five spice than garlic-soy, which isn’t a bad thing, just different.

The crunch was decent, but it’s not the sweet and spicy candy-coated shell you can get just upstairs at Mad For Chicken (soon to be Mono + Mono).

All of it would have been better if it had been served hot. Each item was lukewarm at best, all seemingly pre-made. I won’t pass any permanent judgment on Boki since they just set up shop, but there’s a lot of work to be done, starting with firing up a deep fryer and doing making that chicken to order.

Boki Cart, Fifth Avenue between 31st and 32nd Streets.

Eater reported this morning that Mono + Mono, a new music-centered Korean Fried Chicken spot is opening in the East Village this fall with another branch to open in Koreatown.

Related:
Korean-Fried-Chicken-Palooza: Kyochon vs. Bon Chon vs. Mad For Chicken

Now that the Super Bowl is out of the way, you’re probably sick and tired of fried chicken wings. Here at Midtown Lunch, we never get tired of fried chicken, especially when it’s covered in a sweet and spicy sauce. Many of you probably had traditional buffalo wings for the big game, but Korean fried chicken is not like Southern fried chicken or buffalo wings. The texture contrast and sauces make Korean fried chicken a different beast. A beast that I like eating. When I heard about Bon Chon opening up on 38th, I was really ecstatic until I heard about the 2 hour wait… After waiting for the dust to settle and giving Bon Chon time to figure out a better system, I decided to go check out their famous Korean fried chicken.

First let’s talk about the menu at Bon Chon. It’s a four-step ordering process. You pick the number of pieces you want along with whether you want ‘Drumstics’, wings, white meat (which is like chicken tenders), or mixed. I would list out all the possible price combination for the Midtown Lunch audience, but it’s way too complicated. On the menu, this part is displayed in a 4×3 matrix and the prices are listed as lunch prices. If you want dinner, add $2 to every price. So after you pick the amount of chicken, you choose a sauce (soy garlic or hot & spicy.) They allow you to mix sauces if you order a lot of chicken, but if you just get the 3 piece meal, you’re only allowed to order one sauce. Then after the sauces, you pick a side. Coleslaw, dinner roll, yellow rice, or french fries. On the day I went, they didn’t have yellow rice, and only had white rice.

So now you’re wondering what the fourth step is in this ordering process. The fourth step is for add ons… sort of. They have over ten things on this section, but they only had four available for now: fried calamari ($13), zucchini fries ($11), mini shrimp and onions ($14) and soy pot stickers ($10). Clearly if you want chicken plus something else and stay in the Midtown Lunch price range… then you’re out of luck for now. If you want to try some of the cooler sounding things on the menu, like bulgogi taco, you’ll have to wait a little bit. Call ahead before you go and confirm what the kitchen has that day. I think they still might be getting over the shit-storm stage of a recently opened restaurant.

I picked the $7 dollar meal with both drumsticks and wings and I got ‘em spicy. You get 1 drumstick and 4 wings, but they actually threw in an extra drumstick. Maybe they got so busy that they just started piling chicken into a container and shoving it out of the kitchen. The chicken itself is first rate. The skin basically acts like a hard cocoon for the moist meat. It’s not just any cocoon, it’s a crunchy one with a sticky and spicy glaze on the outside. I know many of you out there can handle the heat and prefer it when restaurants don’t hold back. I’m happy to tell you that the Hot & Spicy sauce delivers. It’s not unbearably hot or anything, but it’s definitely strong enough for you to notice. That’s where the pickled daikons come in handy. They give you a little cup of pickled daikons as part of the meal and it’s cool and refreshing. The french fries were nothing to write home about. They came crunchy like the chicken, however they weren’t seasoned. If you love thick cut french fries, then these obviously aren’t for you.

I had to wait 30 minutes from the time the order was placed to the time chicken was consumed. This wasn’t too much of a burden because they had TVs in the restaurant. Bon Chon has three flat screen TVs on the first level, and even more on the second level seating area. During the wait, I noticed people who just came in and picked up large orders and walked away with bags and bags full of food. The trick at Bon Chon is to call ahead and place your order, otherwise you’re going to be waiting because the fried chicken process takes some time.

Also, the real Korean fried chicken aficionados out there might have a favorite chain for this stuff, and might not like Bon Chon. I know there’s a Kyochon opening up sometime in the next fifty years. So we’ll see what their chicken is like when they open…

The + (What somebody likes this place would say)

• Korean fried chicken is awesome
• I need variety aside from Popeyes
• The potentially long wait doesn’t bother me

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• If they ever run out of chicken when I get there, I can’t wait even longer
• 1 wing is actually 1/2 a wing.  So you’re paying $7  for 3 full chicken wings, or 1 drumstick and 2 full wings.  That’s too damn expensive!
• I’d rather go to Popeye’s.  It’s cheaper, and quicker.
• Kyochon is much better…

Bon Chon Chicken, 207 W. 38 St. (btw. 7+8th), 212-221-3339

Related:
8th Avenue is the Fried Chicken Corridor of NYC
Please Don’t Forget That Popeye’s is Still Open

I twittered about this earlier last week, but Lunch’er “Joseph” wants to see more!

“I was desperate – I forgot my lunch and had no cash today. Couldn’t think of a decent card-only idea so I searched for Midtown Popeyes. [The one on 40th btw. 7+8th] came up on Google, but the lead posting was the one about the bankruptcy declaration. Luckily I went anyway and they were open and good. I’m not sure if it warrants another posting to remind people that they really are open – might help show them some business and improve the likelihood of someone taking over the franchise??? I’d have to go to 14th or harlem on my lunch hour for popeyes if they close. :(“

There are some decent fried chicken alternatives in Midtown, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that we don’t want to lose Popeyes.

Related:
8th Avenue is the Fried Chicken Corridor of NYC
Cafe Cello May Have the Best Fried Chicken in Midtown

Yes, those are holes in the container created by the hot oil.  That can’t be good for you.  Of course, I ate the chicken anyway.  (Not going to let good fried chicken go to waste, right!)  When Bossman checked this cart out, he got two pieces of the regular chicken, and two chicken tenders.  On the day I was there it was chicken wings. Not sure if they have different pieces on different days, or maybe now they’re only serving wings?  They fry the chicken fresh to order, so wings make a lot more sense for time purposes.

Pretty tasty overall, I had them add their vinegary hot sauce- which pretty much turned these bad boys into buffalo wings.  The fries were surprisingly tasty, and made this quite the deal for $6.

A friend tested out their chicken over rice, which was fairly standard.  Rice was a little overcooked for my taste (I prefer the dry basmati rice that you get at 53rd & 6th or XPL), and I can’t agree with her choice of BBQ sauce over hot sauce (sorry, I’m strictly a white sauce hot sauce kind of guy) but it was edible.

Overall, a tasty lunch… despite the fact that my lunch melted the container that was holding it.  I guess I’m saying go forth at your own risk.  Next up… the grilled hot dog cart!

Fried Chicken Cart, SW Corner of 55th & Madison