Yes, I came to the home town of Popeyes fried chicken to only have an affair with Willie Mae's dirty Treme yardbird. I passed by a couple of Popeyes on the way here, so if the chicken sucked here, you know where I'll be next...
The dumpy entrance to cheekan heaven. Looks empty but don't be fooled... Joint is packed inside and there's a tent on the outside for y'all to wait in the heat. By the time we ate and left it was slamming. Get here early, real early.
America's Best Fried Chicken. Bold words, the pouch will be the judge of that. I don't know how many orders were in this basket but it is glorious. I think there were 9 pieces (all dark)... Not for long. I rummaged for a thigh. The only piece that should be considered the holy grail for frying. I was really upset when every single white person in this place asked for all white meat... Fucking amateurs. These people should wait extra in line just for that insult. All they kept saying was this is suppose to be really good... Yeah, if you got the dark meat like it's intended. Anyways, serenity now... These were made to order, not sitting under some heat lamp. It took time to cook and the shit was still crackling when it came out. The batter/crust is pretty thin, great color, very well seasoned, very crispy with a lot of nooks and crannies that works great with hot sauce and breaks away from the flesh easily. It is a very good crust, while it seemed thin, it has a lot of crunch factor to it. The meat inside is tender and very juicy, not greasy but juicy. This could very well be ABFC... So, does this chicken come anywhere close to beating Popeyes? The answer is YES. Oh fuck, I said it. This will be considered one of the best at #2. The best in the world was from a street cart by an old lady in Bangkok, Thailand, the most amazing fried chicken I have ever had. So, Popeyes has been pushed down to #3 on the pouch's world ranking. I'm still thinking about this chicken days later... Sure sign it's a winner. But in Atlanta, Popeyes is still #1 in my heart and pouch.
Seasoned Green Beans and Rice. This ridiculous portion was a side that came with the ABFC... Large enough to be a meal. You can't beat this deal. Beans were kinda spicy but a bit bland at the same time, weird. The gravy on the rice was a little spicy but it totally made up for the unseasoned beans. Mix and shovel it into your face hole and repeat.
Chicken Fried Pork Chop, mac & cheez, sweet peas. The 6 oz. chop is too thin, the secret recipe batter too thick and the chop got rubbery trying to deep fry that batter so it's not under-cooked and runny. Mac was decent and peas were soggy in a canned kinda way but weren't at the same, it was the real Southern way. This dish was pretty much average.
Fried Okra. If these were brown bag breaded okra, then I'm a fan and want to know where they got them from.
Sweet Potato Fries. Decent tasting sweet tater fries, they needed a couple more minzies in the fryer though.
This place deserves all the success after all the damage done by Katrina. But their real secret to their success was from the community who volunteered to rebuild this local joint to get that fryer back up and running for the all people who miss and crave their fried chicken. I can see why and the crowds that swarm here on a daily basis is proof positive that their passion and attention to their spectacular fried chicken has not been compromised at all even with all the nationwide coverage. The rest of the menu is pretty standard stuff, the sides are better but you come here for one thing and one thing only- the fwied cheekan.
Pump pump squirt!
2401 St. Ann Street
New Orleans, LA 70119
(504) 822-950
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