Fried chicken

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Where is the best fried chicken around here? I have a craving for it and KFC just wont do!

Comments

Here's more info on Mrs. Jones

[maggiebex.livejournal.com]

http://calendar.boston.com/boston-ma/venues/show/280951-mrs-jones

I am off to check it out right now for lunch.

Re: Here's more info on Mrs. Jones

[red-liner.livejournal.com]

So how was it??? I'm dying to know....there aren't many foods that would lure me all the way to Milton, but good fried chicken is one of them!

Re: Here's more info on Mrs. Jones in DORCHESTER

[maggiebex.livejournal.com]

(not Milton... when did we start talking about Milton?)
Mrs. Jones was delicious, but a bit wacky. If you do go all the way down to Dorchester, have a little bit of patience -- it's worth it!

First off, it's cash-only and take-out only. They have a few stools at a narrow counter along the side, but it doesn't look very comfortable. Be prepared to travel. Don't worry, the fryliciousness does not suffer for it.

We went for fried chicken, so I ordered fried chicken. It was all wings, no other parts. And this is not KFC, so don't be expecting a thick crispy (or soggy) skin. It was delicious! Savory, good seasoning, not too heavy and not at all greasy. I don't regret my choice at all.

That said, I saw a lot of people ordering the catfish special of the day, and OMFG, that looked amazing. Definitely going to try that next time, with a squeeze of lemon and a dash of one of the many hot sauces lined up along that counter (interspersed with canisters of hand wipes!)

My coworker got smothered pork chops, fresh out of the oven. In these pig-tastic times, this might sound sacrilegious, but I'm not such a fan of the pork. But he made me try a bite, and it was so good I ended up having a half a chop!

As my coworker also wanted to try the chicken, he asked for a small portion., What they gave him was a fried chicken "sandwich," a full order of wings with two slices of bread, and no sides. I have no idea how you'd ever eat that as a sandwich, and it was a whole lot of food. A good way to save a couple of bucks if you don't want any sides.

Which would be a valid choice. The collards were good with a little kick of spice, but the mac and cheese was gloppy, the coleslaw was really heavy with mayo, and the corn bread stuffing was grainy and mealy, made with raw corn flour instead of bread. They have like a dozen other sides we haven't tried yet, and based on the strength of the collards, I'd say you'd have more luck with traditional southern sides like black-eyed peas. Get a side of gravy with everything, you'll want more of that yumminess!

Now, the wackiness. Mrs. Jones runs the counter, with her husband and another guy filling orders in the kitchen. She writes all the orders on a notebook, instead of on slips that she sends back. So it takes a long time to fill orders, with all the back and forth to the counter everyone has to do to check this one notebook. When we were there, someone had called in a big order and hadn't picked it up yet, so she was having a lot of trouble keeping everything straight, and we had trouble holding her attention while we ordered. For example, the coworker ordered all that food because she said they didn't have a combo plate available, but then later she made a similar combo for another customer.

In sum, leave some time, make your order simple, have patience, stay away from the gloppier sides in favor of the healthier stuff, and get extra gravy. And make sure to go for a walk afterwards, else you might sleep all afternoon!

Re: Here's more info on Mrs. Jones in DORCHESTER

[red-liner.livejournal.com]

Wow, outstanding writeup!

I think I get the picture, and I like what I see - the best food places are built around someone's personal vision and skills (and, yes, idiosyncracies), and it sounds like the Joneses have it going on.

I'm going to start looking for reasons to head south....in the meantime, I'm going to ponder the thought process that led to the fried chicken wing sandwich. That has to be one of the funkiest menu items in the area, and one I'm eager to try.

Thanks so much for sharing!