I'm not much of a fan of fried chicken. To me, it's greasy, soggy, flavorless mush coating overcooked chicken. You can revoke my "Southern" card if you want, but fried food in general just doesn't do much for me. The flavor of the fat tends to overwhelm the flavor of the food. In almost all cases you would do better to prepare it in another way.This is the opposite of how I feel about Gus's fried chicken.
There's something about how they make it that's alchemical. The crust is crisp and full of the flavor of pepper and spice, while the chicken stays moist and juicy. It's like they condensed the essence of chicken in there. Maybe it's special chickens...I don't know. But they just taste better than ordinary ones.
Other than the superlative chicken, the menu at Gus's is limited. They have enjoyable fried pickles and jalapenos, the pies are uninspired but not bad. Beans and coleslaw come with the chicken meal and are serviceable. I like to scoop up coleslaw with pieces of chicken lightly doused in pepper vinegar. Yum!I go to the Gus's downtown, on Front & Linden. I'm told the location out east has more variety of vegetables, but I wonder why they bother. People come to Gus's for the chicken. Eating anything else is just a waste of perfectly good tummy space.
