Hop's Chicken

If there's cheekan, the pouch will be there... The somewhat long awaited chicken shack from Linton Hopkins finally opened at the PCM. The food court space is quite large and a lot of goodies are going in. You can already imagine the crowds. It will be a tremendous goat rodeo success. The line for this shack was pretty long but it seems like they are moving orders as quickly as possible which was not fast by any means... Ok, maybe fast for a cripple. The menu is simple which is awesome. But some retards will still sit there and hold up the line thinking about what to order. Hey, douche nozzle, they serve only cheekan here- pick a fucking biscuit, sando or individual pieces already for crying out loud. Ahh, fuck it, I'm next in line so just order your goddamn biscuit and move along. Let's try a sample and see if the pouch approves.

I still can't believe they are relatively inexpensive for individual pieces in this day in age where every motherfucker is charging like upwards of $20 for 3 pieces. For $1, the whole wing was a deal. The half bird for $9 was not bad either and it comes with 2 buttermilk rolls. I have a feeling this may be just an introductory cock-teaser price and that shit is gonna double when it hits critical mass of zombie sheep in a month.

Chicken Biscuit. That biscuit looks real sad, real fucking sad. It was somewhat flaky but also parts of it were undercooked and gummy. The piece of fried boneless chicken had a shape that was not conducive of eating it together as a biscuit sando. Things were falling off left and right like a leper in high winds. The chicken itself was pretty good, decent crust but the meat was a bit dry inside. I'm not a big fan of Chick-fil-A but their cheekan biscuit trumps Hop's for now... Maybe with time they will get to that level and produce consistent product over and over again.

Fried Chicken. Like I said the prices are not too bad for the fried chicken with this caliber of hype. I wanted to get the half bird for $9 to gauge all the pieces which was a good deal but they ran out of the buttermilk rolls that comes with the half and they weren't substituting anything for it, so you're paying full price without the rolls which I really wanted to try. I didn't want the breast anyways, so I just ordered the wing, leg and thigh. The pieces (Springer Mountain) are brined and deep fried (interested in what oil/lard/shortening they were using)... Does it really matter what kind of chicken (free range organic or gmo'd the fuck out) they used if it's gonna be deep fried? People just don't get it, it's like deep frying a prized piece of foie gras... It won't make a difference. Wait, I take that back, I did deep fried a piece of $180 foie gras for shits and giggles at an unnamed 3 star resto in NYC and it was fucking dericious. The fried chicken were a bit on the smaller size which was not a problem if it is as good as everyone was saying. The crust had a really nice deep golden brown color to it, it's also not a thick crust which is key. It was crispy but it does break apart somewhat easily. The meat was really moist to the point that it was greasy. You want moist flavorful meat but when it's too greasy all you taste is the grease. It was seasoned well, maybe a tad to well, the salt factor was acceptable with a cup of water on standby. The chicken was not fried to order but in batches and held in a steam table with heat lamps above since there was a steady flow of orders coming in. The frying process is definitely not skillet fried, that would take forever... So, the question is- is it fried in a regular deep fryer or a pressure fryer... The chicken had that similarity of crispiness and greasiness like in a KFC chicken. Those pressure fryers are pricey but they cook quicker and in higher volumes. Regular deep fryer gives the chicken a dryer crispier crust since the steam escapes but it does take longer. You could produce a pressure cooked style fried chicken but that is more involved and time consuming. I tried to peek back there in the kitchen but you can't see shit behind the wall. So, my guess is that the chicken was pressure fried (I hope I'm wrong). I'm not a fan of KFC chicken because of that... Anyone remember Leroy's Chicken? For the time being, this was a decent fried chicken and people will love it no matter what just because of the name behind. Oh, and skip the Frim Fram sauce (mayo ketchup sriracha hybrid thinger) which was awful at best.

It's just unreal to me how people can eat the same stuff I ate and proclaim it is the best fried chicken and/or the chicken biscuit/sando ever on their first week. If it was called Bill's Chicken, no one would give a shit. The hero worship in this town is fucking uncanny and annoying. It's such a mind fuck. If they took a shit in the fryer and sandwiched it between a bun, some people will say it was the best fried fecal matter with b&b pickles they have ever eaten because it's from the H&F crew. But make no mistake, H&F does put out very decent grub and they do care about their product but when you start opening more and more stores the products will not be the same on a consistency level. I would definitely go back and try the chicken again but it ain't a destination fried cheekan joint for the pouch just yet. I'm sure this is the first of many menu restructuring. So, hopefully, they will get things running smoother as time goes on with new offerings and a fried chicken that's pouch worthy. But it's a worthy addition to the PCM.

675 Ponce De Leon Ave NE
Atlanta, GA 30308
678-235-2696 
http://www.hopschicken.com/contact-1/