In a world of starkly varied tastes and trends, few things are universally loved. But fried chicken is one of those things. A food brought to America by West African slaves, fried chicken grew from the South to become the world’s most ubiquitously venerated food. If demand for the Popeyes chicken sandwich isn’t proof enough of its powerful appeal, the fact that KFC has locations in 72 percent of the world’s countries indicates there aren’t many humans turning down deep-fried birds.
In addition to Cantonese crispy fried chicken, only one other country has really added much variation to the traditional “Kentucky” fried method. That is South Korea, one of the world’s most creative food-centric cultures.
Instead of a buttermilk soak and one long bath in the deep fryer, as American fried chicken is prepared, Korean fried chicken’s trademark crispy skin comes from two dunks in the fryer. In a method called par frying, the first douse in hot oil begins the work of rendering out the fat, followed by a rest that allows the meat to slowly continue cooking. The last brief dunking ensures the skin reaches maximum level crunch.
Since 1977, when the first Korean fried chicken restaurant reportedly opened in the basement of a Seoul department store, the proliferation of fried chicken in South Korea has been facilitated by a growing chicken farming industry, the entrance of American KFC franchises before the 1988 Olympics, and the financial crisis of ‘97, when many who lost their jobs reinvented themselves in the restaurant business.
By the time it had returned full circle to the United States in the early 2000s with the opening of chains like Bonchon, Korean fried chicken had taken on new recipes and norms. For example, brushing chicken in sauces after frying is typical. Most places have a take on yangnyeom, a sweet and spicy glaze prepared with gochujang chili paste. Soy-garlic is also popular. Additionally, chicken platters are almost always served with a side of pickled daikon radish that provides a sweet yet acidic crunch to juxtapose the grease and spice of the chicken.
Chicken is sometimes enjoyed with soju, a Korean spirit, but most often, it is consumed with beer. Koreans combine the word for chicken (chikin) with beer (maekju) for a noun that takes on special event status in the word chimaek. In addition to the thousands of South Korean restaurants specializing in chimaek, the beverage is celebrated with annual festivals and Instagram posts of people fisting beer and drumsticks. We wonder if there is a better combination.
Dallas and its northern suburbs have hosted chains like Bonchon and Rice Chicken for a few years now, but recently we’ve noticed a spate of new arrivals serving the KFC of the 21st century. Here are some newcomers to check out:
CM Chicken
While Bonchon might be the most well-known Korean fried chicken chain in the United States, there is actually only one location in South Korea. Conversely, CM Chicken, also called Choong Man Chicken, has 200 South Korean locations. It’s a recognizable brand for Koreans, which is why Michael Lee says he and his partners invested in the Plano location that opened Sept. 27. This is the group’s 12th store, and the first in Texas. While most ingredients, including the chickens, are local, the sauces come from home.
Highlights at CM include snow onions and tikkudak wings — wings that are fried and then baked in a charcoal oven. A snow onion is a plate of fried chicken covered in shaved white onions and a mayo-peanut sauce. The sauce is quite sweet, so it’s better ordered with curry sauce or “hot,” with a side of jalapeño salsa. The tikkudak comes glazed with sauces made of gochujang and curry, along with a very sweet garlic soy sauce. For something interesting to drink, try the Chinese import Tsingtao or a liter of Jinro Makgeolli, a raw Korean rice wine that’s milky and sweet and makes a fine accompaniment to chicken.
CM Chicken, 2300 Midway Road, Suite A, Plano. cmchickens.com.
Ari Chicken
Ari Chicken is the fourth restaurant of Carrollton local Karen Park. She and her two sons, Eugene and David, can be seen going back and forth between Ari Korean BBQ next door and their new post, Ari Chicken, that opened in late August on Old Denton Road. Here, chicken is brined overnight in herbs, then coated in a combination of all-purpose, cake and rice flours before frying. The breading is a bit thicker than other Korean fried chicken joints, but the crunch is on par with the best. All of the delicious sauces are made in house, like the sweet spicy that is more spicy than sweet with gochujang, jalapeños and Thai chiles. Get it on drumsticks or wings. There’s also a not-too-sweet soy garlic sauce that’s vinegar based and brimming with garlic.
Ari Chicken is a great place for beer and cheese lovers as well, with an optional mozzarella cheese blanket that can go on top of boneless thighs, wings or drumsticks coated in their sweet spicy sauce. The Park family has also developed a seasoned, dry cheese sprinkle for those who like their fried chicken sans sauce. And if you’re wanting to have chimaek, you can do that here with a South Korean Extra Cold Hite, or for those who like their beer hyper-local, 3 Nations is on tap, delivered from 3 miles away.
2625 Old Denton Road, Suite 812, Carrollton. Facebook: Ari Chicken
No. 1 Plus Chicken
No. 1 Plus Chicken isn’t new to Dallas: The original location on Royal Lane in northwest Dallas has been going strong since 2005. Owners Jessie and Brittany Park noticed that much of their clientele were driving from the eastern suburbs, however, so they opened a second location in Richardson on Belt Line Road in November.
No. 1 Plus serves chicken like a well-oiled machine — each table is set with a bucket for bones and an entire box of plastic gloves. For a server, press the button on the wall that clucks back “cock-a-doodle doo” and place an order for the combination platter that comes with a sampling of sauces. The opportunity to get extremely hot chicken is available with a heat spectrum that was explained this way: “spicy” is the equivalent to an orange bag of Hot Cheetos. The “Xspicy” is like the black bag, called Xxtra Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, and the “Xxspicy” is as spicy as it gets.
No. 1 Plus is also known for their green onion topping, where finely shredded green onions are dressed in honey mustard and mounded on top of fried nuggets, and they are the most prepared to serve corn and cheese, a popular side to Korean fried chicken. It’s torched table-side in a cast iron pan, as many places do, but here, a handy pair of scissors is included to help with cutting the strings of cheese that seem to go on forever. The serving spoon is even straightened at the end to aid in scraping all the cheesy bits from the pan. Eventually, draft beer by the pitcher and a variety of sojus will be available, making it a place to settle in for a long night of fried chicken with friends, especially as No. 1 Plus Chicken is open until 2 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
2240 Royal Lane, Suite 103, Dallas; 2115 E. Belt Line Road, Richardson. no1pluschicken.com.