Midtown Lunch

At the Midtown Village Festival I was passed a flier for a new chicken restaurant. More than just chicken though- FRIED chicken. From the owners of Sakura Mandarin, and Spice 28 came Chick-a-licious (or Chick-A-Lic as the sign says) on 11th and Walnut next to NYPD Pizza. I went there today to check out that chicken.

The main attraction is the extra crispy double fried chicken which comes as boneless or bone in wings.

While deciding what to order I was given a sample of the double fried wing on the bone. I do love scraping meat off the traditional chicken wing but with the thick Chick-a-licious batter, I realized boneless was the way to go.

Boneless wings come as 7 for $6.50 and 10 for $8 with choice of  side and sauce. They take about 10 minutes to get to their double fry on. They come out super hot. As advertised, the batter was shockingly greaseless and not heavy. Chick-a-licious claims their products are made in soybean oil and have no cholesterol or trans fats. Despite this, the appeal of crispy fried chicken was not lost. Though it was juicy enough, I would have appreciated if the chicken inside the batter was more seasoned.  All the flavor came from the dipping sauces, another main attraction of this place. Of the dozen or so dipping sauces, I sampled a few. The spicy buffalo was too astringent. The sweet chili was good, but was nothing more than the sweet chili sauce you can buy bottled from any Asian market. I liked the spicy, creamy wasabi aioli best of all.

You can either dip your wings in the sauce or soak them in it, which changes up the texture a bit.

I also had the crispy chicken wrap ($6.50 plus a side) served in a tortilla with lettuce and tomato. Avocado is an extra dollar and was a little under ripe. The crispy chicken here is not given the double fry treatment, but it was nonetheless enjoyably crispy. Its a big sandwich, and better than a lot of chicken sandwiches out there. Over the wings, this is probably an easier lunch for taking on the go.

The meals become a much better value with the inclusion of one side each. The french fries were fine and fun to dip in the sauces (extra sauces are available for a quarter). But the cole slaw was great.

Trans fat free or not, you should probably not be eating fried chicken every day. But whether you chose crispy or extra crispy, just don’t chicken out staying cooped up in your office…

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

• Non greasy fried chicken
•  With the free side with most orders, a very reasonably priced lunch

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

• Some of the sauces are ho-hum
• Chicken under the batter needs more flavor

Chick-a-licious, 138 S 11th St, 215-925-8881