Happy Fried Chicken Day!

In honor of National Fried Chicken Day I think we all should rejoice in all that is fried birds! That means Popeye's, Willie Mae's Scotch House and corner stores galore!!!!! Click on any of the links above or below to be directed to my posts about all these lovely fried chicken distributers!

You can't go wrong with a good ol' box of Popeye's. Cajun fries, buttery biscuits and fried chicken! SCORE!!!!! And don't forget their red beans and rice, often called the best in the city (I'm not kidding)!

Willie Mae's Scotch House has my favorite fried birds in the city, flaky and crispy on the outside and buttery and soft on the inside. It tastes like a heavenly heart attack.

Or if you're looking for something cheap and easy and want something that's not Popeye's, you can always head over to your neighborhood Brother's or Krispy Krunchy!

So go have yourself a feast and celebrate this wonderful holiday!

Hangover Helper

Like most 20-something year olds, sunday morning can sometimes be quite a strugglefest for me. Between dizziness, groggyness and the vague feelings of nausea, hangovers are never fun. Contrary to popular belief that coffee is the number one solution to a hangover, the real cure is fried chicken. I kid you not. Any college student will tell you, greasiness is an absolute must... something about coating your stomach or absorbing the alcohol. Probably all urban legend, but I'm willing to run with it if it means I can justify eating fried chicken for breakfast.

I must have mentioned it before, but in case I didn't make it clear the first time, I LOVE fried chicken, like "will you marry me?" "we're destined to be together" LOVE. I basically crave it 24/7, and need to get my fill at least once a week.

So today being sunday, and a particularly rough morning for me and my roommates, fried chicken had to be on the agenda.

Of course Popeye's had to be one of our stops on our fried chicken tour, but I couldn't leave out my neighborhood convenient store's variety of crispy thighs and breasts.

So naturally, we made it into a little competition. Unfortunately for the little mom and pop establishment, Popeye's crispy, crunchy skins way surpassed the merits of the corner store's bird. However, the convenience store chicken was significantly less greasy (shocking) and still had a nice bite to it, although it was definitely over seasoned with some Tony's cajun spice.

But the biscuits are another story. Even with all the hype about Popeye's famous golden biscuits, the winner was the chewier sweeter ones from the mini mart.

This may be a little biased because I usually find Popeye's biscuits too salty for me (I know I'm going to get a lot of shit for saying that), but the corner store ones really were much better, and so delicious with honey!

I think I need to stop writing now because all this talk about chicken is making me want to go find some more, and twice in one day is just too much. Even for me.

Fast Food Junkie

I was recently called out on my somewhat out of control LOVE of fast food. Not all fast food, but I definitely make some questionable food choices on a regular basis. I became a fast food fanatic last semester during my initial exploration of the world of unkosher meat products. At that point in time I was dancing 13 hours a week not including rehearsals and performances. The best perk of being a dance major is that I never have to go to the gym, and I really don't have to watch what I eat very much because of all the physical activity. Unfortunately, I am graduating in May, and will have to seriously change my eating habits when I don't have the same physical exertion built into my schedule.... but for now I can eat as much greasy fried food as my overworked heart desires!

Unlike many other food bloggers I am a food lover, NOT a food snob. I'll try anything once, and chances are, if it's fried, I'll probably enjoy it.

Over the course of the past seven months of working at a Restaurant I've had a surprising amount of drive-thru meals on the go. I think at this point I have narrowed down my favorite artery clogging meals at each joint.

I'll start with the big honcho himself, Micky D's of course! I will fight to the death with anyone who claims that there are fries that are better than Mc Donalds golden crispy fried potato slivers (except of course the duck fat fries, which I have yet to find).

Another favorite is their oreo Mcflurry (580 calories), and if I'm feeling particularly reckless with my body the McGriddle (420 calories), Cinnamon Melts (460 calories), and the McRib (500 calories) never fail me. Oh, and their iced coffee is my new obsession... clearly I'm a fan.

However, this is not my favorite fast food joint. My go-to food while drunk, sober, tired, hungry, happy, sad, basically anything but classy, is fried chicken!!! So of course, being in Louisiana I have many options to choose from. To be honest, some of my favorite deep fried thighs come from shady gas stations for 99 cents a piece. But when I'm not in the mood for sketchiness Popeye's is golden. Their chicken is good quality (shocker) and their dirty rice might be my favorite dirty rice in the city (sad, I know).

I also really enjoy Cane's, a local Chicken Tender franchise known for their spunky sauce and light and fluffy texas toast.

When I'm too late for Popeye's (they close at 1 am) and too far from Cane's I have sunk to low moments of craving my fried feathered friend to the point of going to KFC. Those were not proud moments, but they actually have a tasty spicy sandwich with bacon on a Hawaiian bun. It's no southern fried chicken, but it works. Plus, it's better than just getting chicken nuggets at Wendy's, which I do way too often, but they're only 99 cents! Clearly my cash flow dictates my meals, but the way I look at it, the more I save by eating shitty fast food, the more I can spend at fancy four star restaurants.

The only one of these drive-thru's which I hate is Burger King for three very valid reasons: 1. The King in their commercial seriously creeps me out. 2. I have not been able to find one thing on the menu I like. 3. I had the unfortunate mistake of trying their chicken fries. BIG mistake. Just trust me, don't do it.

I saved the best for last. It's not really in the same drive-thru genre as these other greasy establishments, but it is a gem among sketchier establishments. Get ready for it... Waffle House. Oh yes, so classy and soooo tasty. I'm not even kidding. People make fun of me to no end when I tell them how much I love waffle house, and I mean LOVE. So much so that I have been known to drive all the way to Arabi (30 minutes away) by myself to get my hash brown fix.

And I was lucky enough to be in the area today, ironically for an interview to be a fitness instructor, so I just had to go and get my fill of grease and cheese. If only the interviewer knew what I had just ingested, I would have had no chance of getting the job.

I usually like to get the "All Star," their biggest breakfast combo on the menu: 1 waffle, 2 eggs, 4 pieces of toast, grits or hash browns, sausage or bacon and coffee. But I actually exercised some form of restraint since I haven't danced in almost a month. Impressive, right?? Instead I got cheesy eggs and hash browns made "All the Way." That means they're covered (cheese), smothered (onions), diced (tomato), peppered (jalapeno), chunked (ham), capped (mushroom), topped (chili), and country (gravy). Oh yes, all of it! I was a little scared at first because I've never actually gone "All the Way" at Waffle House but it was actually pretty good. It would have been great if I had left out the overwhelming chili, but at least I know for next time. And there will be many more next times!