Harry Potter and the Order of the Soy Garlic Chicken

Characters (starring in alphabetical order): Roger Chao, Alice Chen, Jennifer Chuang, Ahris Kim (in spirit), Jane Kim, Samantha Mak, David Schemitsch, and Christopher Wu

Setting: BON CHON CHICKEN at 32nd and 5th -- a swanky fried chicken joint on the outskirts of Ktown. By all means, NOT your typical KFC. Upon climbing a hidden, winding, narrow set of stairs, we open into a cavernous space with pumping music, metallic settings, modern furniture, and exposed brick. Our first thought: are we at a lounge? Turns out, it IS a lounge. I thought we were going to a good fried chicken place that allowed us to lounge, but it's more of a lounge with great fried chicken.


The Plot: Succulent pieces of lightly seasoned chicken with a crackly, crisp, delicate skin. It's not your typical American fried chicken, i.e., chicken simply dipped in buttermilk and fried to produce a thick, big, flaky crust. No, this venerable chicken is made according to a time-honored recipe unique to the Asian culture (mainly Korean). (1) Very fine flour is painted onto the unseasoned chicken and then dipped into a thin batter before going into the fryer (2) Coming out of the fryer, it's vigorously shaken and cooled, letting the meat inside cook without burning the crust (3) Once more it's thrown into the fryer for a few minutes until it's whisked onto a plate and lightly coated with soy garlic or hot sauce; if done right, the chicken should absorb the sauce.

(Picture above from NY Times)

What this provides is incredible, magnificent chicken. Served with sweet radish and icy beer, it gives its consumer, as one reviewer so aptly puts it, "an irresistible repetition of salt and spice, cold and hot, briny and sweet, crunchy and tender."

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