Harold's chicken shack BBQ Sauce

I am a serious fan of Harold's chicken shack, and I have a question for Harold's afficionados out there.

Okay, so everyone knows that Harold's hot sauce is the Lousiana Hot Sauce brand, but does anybody have any idea what brand the "mild" BBQ sauce might be? I know the BBQ sauce is not everyone's favorite, but I seriously miss it and haven't had any (sauce or chicken) in six years since moving east. Hey if I can't get the real thing, then I'll take a pale imitation with the proper sauces Smile

foxfire wrote:Okay, so everyone knows that Harold's hot sauce is the Lousiana Hot Sauce brand

Actually, at a lot of Harold's for a long time the hot sauce of choice is Bulliard's brand.

sorry can't help on the mild - never order it myself

Hmmmmmm, interesting.

Well I suspect that since most of Harold's are run independently there is probably quite a bit of variability in condiment brands used. I just know that for the 8 years that I lived in Hyde Park, the Harold's down there used Lousiana Hot Sauce.

Actually i grew up in HP and am pretty sure that at both the Dorchester and later kimbark plaza harold's they used Bulliards louisiana sauce. I haven't ordered from there in a while and I don't know how important it is - but maybe someone down there could ask what they are using now

Timely post, considering JimtheBeerGuy has been drooling over the Harolds thread lately and been really jonesing for it... maybe I'm stealing his thunder by telling this story, but anyway, yesterday he was at one of his job sites which just happened to be a couple of blocks away from the Harolds in the Loop, so he picked up a couple of chicken baskets and brought them to my work at the Mart, and we ate in the food court.

(One guy actually stopped and jealously asked, "is that fried chicken?" 'cause he knew the food court doesn't sell fried chicken, and that all of the food there is crap,)

We loved the hot sauce, but thought the bbq sauce was just "eh." So it's interesting to know that the hot sauce may have been Louisiana or Buillards. If only the bbq sauce was Famous Dave's - now that would be nice!

foxfire wrote:. . . does anybody have any idea what brand the "mild" BBQ sauce might be?

Some years ago I went to an event that featured several trays of Harold’s chicken from #14 in Hyde Park. They included gallon jugs of hot and mild sauce. I wrote down the brands but can’t find the information now. I'll post again if it turns up. I believe whatever it was, Moo and Oink sells it so there’s definitely hope.

Saint Pizza wrote:. . . he was at one of his job sites which just happened to be a couple of blocks away from the Harolds in the Loop . . . We loved the hot sauce, but thought the bbq sauce was just "eh."

Do you mean Harold’s #62 on Wabash just north of Balbo? As I mentioned earlier this year, the mild sauce they use is quite different than at most Harold’s. I usually get my chicken with hot and mild but won’t make that mistake again at #62. The chicken itself is quite respectable however.

Yeah, it was the Harold's on S Wabash. I was at a NOC in the south loop a few blocks west of there doing some work and finished around lunchtime. I had had a hankering for some of that chicken based on a few writeups from this forum, so i decided to take advantage of the proximity.

The mild sauce really was nothing special, but I enjoyed the hot sauce. Could have been spicier but had a good flavor that went well with the chicken. The fries, though I don't know how special they would have been to begin with, suffered some from cooling off during the walk and el ride from Harold's to Merchandise Mart, but the chicken survived the trip very well and was some of the best fried chicken I've had in a while (though since I don't eat fried chicken terribly often and when I do it's usually nothing fancier than KFC, I may be damning with faint praise there). The cole slaw was a little sweeter than I like, but went well with the hot-sauced chicken. And it's surprising how good plain old white bread can taste when it's soaked up a bunch of chicken grease and hot sauce.

Anyway, I guess I'm a fan of Harold's now, and it's just too bad that there aren't any locations really convenient to where we live. I'll just have to take what opportunities I can when i'm working in the area, or maybe when visiting some friends on the south side who live near a location.

I haven't really been able to find a definitive list of locations though. Does anyone know of such a thing?

JimTheBeerGuy wrote:I haven't really been able to find a definitive list of locations though. Does anyone know of such a thing?

Sometime in the past I recall seeing paper carryout bags with a long listing of addresses. But I think they may have decentralized considerably since then.

The Reader's restaurant issue did a focus on Harold's (PDF) - it doesn't have a simple list, but it indicates the locations of several.

From Budlong Woods, the Evanston Chicken Shack may be as close as most Harold's locations (except Wicker Park). See the Evanston Fried Chicken Taste-off thread, among others for more on ECS and Hecky's, which is just blocks away and generally better appreciated for their fried chicken than their more prominent barbecue.

PS it's all about "hot and mild ON", especially at ECS

germuska wrote:Sometime in the past I recall seeing paper carryout bags with a long listing of addresses. But I think they may have decentralized considerably since then.

Back when I was in college (in the NE) i had one of these proudly displayed on my dorm room wall

germuska wrote: The Reader's restaurant issue did a focus on Harold's (PDF) - it doesn't have a simple list, but it indicates the locations of several.

Maybe m'th'su ha a current list from esearch for that article, though I don't know if it would contain the locations of some of their more far-flung branches such as in detroit

germuska wrote:PS it's all about "hot and mild ON", especially at ECS

I wonder if thee is any way to attach a poll to this topic, so we could see what percentage of folks like hot, hot and mild, mild, or plain?

actually one theing I wanted ot mention earlier is that one of the big differences between ECS and Harold's locations is that Harold's will add salt and pepper on top of the chicken, ECS will only give packets, the inclusion of pepper especially is important

Rene G wrote:
Some years ago I went to an event that featured several trays of Harold’s chicken from #14 in Hyde Park. They included gallon jugs of hot and mild sauce. I wrote down the brands but can’t find the information now. I'll post again if it turns up. I believe whatever it was, Moo and Oink sells it so there’s definitely hope.

Wow. This is actually the closest I've ever come to finding out this info. It would be awesome if you could dig it up since it seems that so few out there seem to know the answer.

Yes, it would be kewl to set up a poll to find out statistics on lovers of Harolds with hot sauce, hot sauce/BBQ sauce, or BBQ sauce . . . Is it possible to set up polls on this forum?

Rene G wrote: I believe whatever it was, Moo and Oink sells it so there’s definitely hope.

I did a bit of snooping and found that Moo & Oink only sells their own High Five Brand of BBQ sauce. Do you think that is it?

foxfire wrote:Yes, it would be kewl to set up a poll to find out statistics on lovers of Harolds with hot sauce, hot sauce/BBQ sauce, or BBQ sauce . . . Is it possible to set up polls on this forum?

The originator of any thread can put a poll on a post, even after the fact. Just "edit" the first post and you'll see some fields at the bottom for adding a poll. You can't change the choices once the poll starts though -- I think a moderator can.

* plain
* hot on the side
* mild on the side
* both on the side
* hot "on"
* mild "on"
* both "on"

maybe you can add "and pepper sprinkled on" for Zim, although I'm sure I'd like that option too -- just never thought of it. That, and I think ECS usually has a more seasoned batter than Harold's, from my experience, so added pepper is less critical. I'll have to get back soon and find out!

the poll is up. didn't realize until after I put it up that I left off "plain"-- sorry about that. guess I can't edit it now...

Just an FYI but the Harold's on Wells between Madison and Washington closed this week.
Jamie

foxfire wrote:the poll is up. didn't realize until after I put it up that I left off "plain"-- sorry about that. guess I can't edit it now...

Foxfire,

I added Plain as an option to your poll.

Enjoy,
Gary