 Jim Dandy Fried Chicken
Say what you will about the ghetto, but you can't deny it's a great place to score black prossies, AND it's a great place to find fried chicken chains that seemingly went out of business everywhere else like 30 years ago. Dark meat, white meat, and more dark meat—mmm-mmm-MMM, my three favorite things, all in my single favorite place: the motherfuckin' ghet-TO, motherfucker! Not Jewish ghettos, though; those make me sad. 😢
I didn't grow up with Jim Dandy, but it sure looks to me like the place hasn't changed since I was still soiling my Pampers—if anything is the 1977 Houston Astros of restaurants, it it surely this place. It's certainly a great photo op, but Jim Dandy isn't merely a cool old-school relic. They're still the purveyors of the best fried chicken in all of Los Angeles—and I swear, the bulletproof glass is there to prevent chicken robberies more than money ones.
Even with all the hipster "hot chicken" joints popping up (and admittedly, they have raised the bar on fried bird around here), you're just not going to find a more perfect rendition than Jim Dandy's. That crisp, perfectly fried golden skin, perfectly seasoned and spiced, giving way to that wonderfully moist and juicy meat—ain't nothing fancy about it, nothing even all that interesting—it's just exactly what fried chicken should be. Prior to discovering Jim Dandy, I probably ate a lot more fried chicken than I should have, just because I was always left with a lingering jones—but here, the jones is definitively quelled. It's the best! The sides I've tried have all been good (the fritters have their own cult following), but the chicken is truly exceptional. Well worth going out of your way for into this not-super-safe part of town; as though you weren't headed here anyway for prossies, you ol' Brown Sugar Junkie!
Review by Timothy Hay, September 2017 |
