Keni Rosales
Craveworthy: Sujeo’s chicken sandwich.
It might seem a bit ridiculous to declare fried chicken sandwiches “a trend.” A staple of the southern soul food tradition for generations, the FCS entered the commercial mainstream in the 1960s thanks to the Georgia-based fast food chain Chick-fil-A. McDonald’s introduced its McChicken in 1980, but the sandwich initially flopped, prompting a pivot to McNuggets. McDonald’s resurrected its FCS eight years later, and other fast-food restaurants followed suit.
Now nearly as ubiquitous as the burger, the FCS has become something of an obsession in recent years. It has taken new forms: KFC introduced its Double Down Sandwich — bacon and cheese between two fried chicken patty “buns.” Taco Bell launched its Naked Chicken Chalupa, which swaps out a tortilla for a fried chicken shell. White people “discovered” and promptly commercialized Nashville hot chicken. And since the mid-2000s, high-end chefs have developed gourmet versions of the FCS, most famously David Chang of the Momofuku empire, who opened a fast-casual fried chicken chain called Fuku. In 2016, Bon Appetit magazine declared: “We’ve Officially Reached Peak Fried Chicken Sandwich Mania.”
Like so many trends, culinary and otherwise, the upscale FCS trend made its way to Madison a few years after it blew up on the coasts. But Tory Miller, the chef behind L’Etoile, Graze, Sujeo and Estrellón, was slightly ahead of the curve. He’s been serving fried chicken and waffles (arguably an open-faced sandwich) at Graze for years, and has had a fried chicken sandwich on the menu at pan-Asian Sujeo for several years. “The chicken sandwich has always been popular,” Miller says. “It has just taken kind of a while to become a real ‘thing’ here … and it’s one of those things where it’s finally catching on more and more.”
On Tuesday nights, Sujeo offers a FCS special: two sandwiches, two orders of fries and two drinks for $25. The preparation is always fun and inventive, inspired by dishes like chicken parmesan, chicken cordon bleu, Nashville hot chicken, and Asian sweet and sour chicken. “Chicken can become a canvas for a lot of things,” Miller says. “And it’s multicultural.”
Esperdell McGee, owner of McGee’s Chicken on South Park Street in Madison and on West Main Street in Sun Prairie, is known for making some of the best soul food in the area. His version of the fried chicken sandwich is rooted in his mom’s home cooking, with special added influence from his Muslim friends. All the meat he serves in his restaurants is halal, meaning it has been prepared in accordance to Islamic law. This means animals are stunned, killed, drained of blood and blessed. “My Muslim friends introduced me to this meat a long time ago, and I liked it,” says McGee, who is also a pastor at Miracles of Life Outreach Ministries. “It tastes better.”
Clement Henriques, chef and former co-owner of That BBQ Joint on Williamson Street (it closed in February), used to offer a fried chicken special at the restaurant, “but it got to be a bit of a hassle,” he says. Wanting to keep some kind of fried chicken on the menu, he opted to add a Creole-style fried chicken sandwich. His version stood out for its enormous size. “Optically, it made people take notice,” he says. “When people saw it coming by, they wanted to order it next time.”
Henriques noticed the rise of the FCS in Madison and beyond. He credits the trend to the interest in Nashville hot chicken. But for him, fried chicken is a family tradition. “When we were growing up, we had fried chicken once a month, and you look forward to that one day a month,” he says. “It’s kind of an indulgent thing.”
Mint Mark has become famous for its Thursday night FCS special, dressed simply with pickles and served on an incredibly buttery biscuit. The Tipsy Cow offers two excellent versions, one with bacon (and the option to add ham and cheese!), and another that employs a tequila-lime marinade. Cafe Hollander serves one with spicy garlic pickles and herbed aioli. Even the vegans are getting on board: The Green Owl Cafe recently featured a Louisiana-style breaded “chicken” sandwich.
Anthony Wahl
The secret’s in the housemade marinade, or maybe the batter, with The Great Dane’s Nashville sliders.
Matt Pace, executive chef at The Great Dane, decided to feature Nashville hot chicken sliders when he revamped the restaurant’s menu last year.
A childhood fan of the chicken sandwiches at Wendy’s and McDonald’s, Pace wanted to take a version of a classic comfort food and “get creative and have fun with it.” Fried chicken is a simple, working-class dish, but it’s difficult to get perfect.
Pace marinates his chicken in a mix of buttermilk, butter, garlic and thyme overnight to add flavor and tenderness. Then he dredges pieces in a heavily seasoned flour mixture and lets it rest for at least a half-hour — usually more — before frying. “The flour will get a little more tacky, a little stickier, and will really adhere to the chicken,” he says. “In a sandwich, that’s crucial, so when you take the first bite not all the breading just falls off.”
Even though this regional delicacy has been one of the biggest food trends of recent years, Pace sees its popularity as more of a throwback: “In dining, it’s always interesting — things tend to cycle back around.”
