My first visit ever to Harold's - Harold's Chicken Shack #36

I love fried chicken, but amazingly, until today I had never been to a Harold's Chicken Shack. But after reading the Chicago Tribune's rankings of fried chicken joints, I decided I needed to give the new Harold's in Wicker Park a try. I was shocked to find out that they have over 50 locations, mostly on the south side, but also locations in Georgia, Minnesota and Indiana.

I quickly figured out that "shack" means that they don't have tables. They have counter-style seating on both sides of the place, with 3 bar-type stools at each counter. I guess that's why most people visiting today were placing to-go orders.

The woman behind the counter certainly made my first trip to Harold's memorable. She was as friendly as any restaurant employee I have ever encountered. I started to wonder why can't everybody be like this -- life is too short to be unwelcoming and unfriendly to customers.

On to the food: I ordered a half chicken (mixed dark and white meat), with hot sauce on the side. It also came with some french fries, cole slaw and it was served atop two pieces of white bread. Harold's claims to make all food to order, and that meant a bit of a wait (maybe 10 minutes), and I'm not going to complain about that.

The bad: Like Honey 1, Harold's can't do french fries . . . or at least not #36 today. The fries were very hot, but bland, soft and mushy. When I make fries, I prefer the double-fry method so that I get them crispy on the outside, soft inside.

The fries also lacked salt, and all that Harold's gives you one of those sealed packets containing napkins, a knife and fork and one packet of salt. The only salt they have is apparently the salt in the packets so you'll have to hope that they salt the fries, or ask for an extra packet, not that salting was able to cure the texture issue.

The very good: The fried chicken was very good. I had four pieces (mixed white and dark), perhaps on the smaller side, but I've always understood that the best frying chickens are smaller. The white meat was moist enough but just barely, while the dark meat was extremely moist. When I fry my own chicken, I always brine my chicken first for 24 hours which I think really ensures a moist bird, be it white or dark meat. Harold's crust was excellent, perfectly crispy and seasoned well, with a very detectable amount of black pepper which I really love. And as the Chicago Tribune noted, the chicken was not greasy at all.

The ok: Cole slaw was fine, served in such a small cup so who really cares how good or bad it is, but it had a tad too much mayonnaise for my liking.
I like the idea of getting the sauce on the side -- I went to Harold's for the fried chicken and I just don't think fried chicken needs sauce (although strangely I feel differently when I order just wings). But I ordered the hot sauce on the side and it was very flavorful, if not a little too mild. But it was a perfect complement for the white bread. My friend had the bbq sauce on the side and I liked that too, particularly the smoky flavor.

I liked Harold's fried chicken better than the fried chicken at Pollo Campero, but at the same time I think it's a little hard to compare the two. They offer very different flavors and sides. But my first trip ever to a Harold's Chicken Shack was a great experience -- next, my first trip to the Evanston Chicken Shack.

On a side note, the picture of the person chasing the chicken with the axe, which I guess is Harold's logo, is a little too SNL "Cluckin Chicken" for me. If you don't know what I'm talking about, visit Cluckin Chicken for a good, sick laugh. haha

1361 N. Milwaukee Ave.
773.252.2424


* edited to include address and phone number

BR wrote:On a side note, the picture of the person chasing the chicken with the axe, which I guess is Harold's logo, is a little too SNL "Cluckin Chicken" for me. If you don't know what I'm talking about, visit Cluckin Chicken for a good, sick laugh. haha

Note: Harold's has been around much longer than the SNL Cluckin' Chicken.

stevez wrote:Note: Harold's has been around much longer than the SNL Cluckin' Chicken.

Very true -- and I wonder whether Harold's logo was the inspiration for Cluckin Chicken.

BR-

Mike Sula's Harold's By Numbers

trixie-pea wrote:BR-

Mike Sula's Harold's By Numbers

Thanks for linking to Sula's article, which I consider as much conceptual art as "restaurant reviewing." It includes one of my favorite introductory phrases of all time: "While training to be the poster boy for acid reflux,"...

BR wrote:I quickly figured out that "shack" means that they don't have tables. They have counter-style seating on both sides of the place, with 3 bar-type stools at each counter. I guess that's why most people visiting today were placing to-go orders.

Some Harold's locations have tables. The only one I've been to lately is #62 (Wabash & Balbo) but I sat at a booth to eat my meal.

BR wrote:I like the idea of getting the sauce on the side -- I went to Harold's for the fried chicken and I just don't think fried chicken needs sauce

I don't know. The second time you go to Evanston Chicken Shack (ECS), order yours with "hot and barbecue on." This has changed people's lives. (I say second because I respect the fact that on your first trip you may feel the need to compare more directly with your Harold's experience, and because I'm confident that after one trip, you'll want to go back.)

BTW, if you know you're going, you may as well phone ahead. The beauty of these places is that they don't let the chicken sit around, and frying a large breast (or two, if you're the half-white sort) does take a while.

Harold's Chicken Shack #62
636 S. Wabash Ave.
312-362-0442

Chicken Shack Restaurant
1925 Ridge Ave, Evanston
(847) 328-9360

While you're visiting ECS, if you're truly interested in a comparative tasting I would suggest also visiting Hecky'sfor a side by side taste-off between both places. They are both outstanding in their own ways. Don't be tempted by Hecky's BBQ, though. It's a chicken only place as far as I'm concerned. You can call ahead to both places and pick up your chicken back to back. They are only located a couple of blocks apart.

Hecky's
1902 Green Bay Rd.
Evanston, IL
847-492-1182

stevez wrote:They are both outstanding in their own ways. Don't be tempted by Hecky's BBQ, though. It's a chicken only place as far as I'm concerned.

It's true that Hecky's is woefully overrated for barbecue. Oddly enough, the one time I had rib tips at ECS, they were pretty darned good. They're a relatively recent addition to the menu (at least in the five or six years it had been since I was more frequently in Evanston) and they are made with a different barbecue sauce than the one they normally put on the fried chicken (the tips sauce has a little bit of honey in it). But from what I recall, the tips were meaty and the sauce was good, although there wasn't any char to speak of. I actually ordered it as a combo with a quarter fried chicken. (Way too much food, but it was tasty.)

One time when I forgot that ECS is closed on Sunday (be warned, by the way), I went over to Hecky's to try the fried chicken. I was a little underwhelmed, but circumstances may have conspired. Hecky's was slammed and I had to wait about 20 minutes just to place my order, and then for it to be cooked. (Bless them, they fry the chicken to order, although they seem to have no problem keeping tips under a warmer and letting the heated sauce give an illusion of freshness.)

trixie-pea wrote:BR-

Mike Sula's Harold's By Numbers

Thanks for the link -- that was a great article. Now I'm left wondering whether I had the best chicken that Harold's has to offer . . . I guess I've got some traveling to do.

stevez wrote:While you're visiting ECS, if you're truly interested in a comparative tasting I would suggest also visiting Hecky's for a side by side taste-off between both places. They are both outstanding in their own ways.

And it looks like I'll have to do a comparison of ECS vs. Hecky's on my next trip to Evanston.

I really enjoyed this review and string. I can't say I ever saw someone come at Harold's with a blank page and eyes wide open. It's sort of like when the Times reviewed Krispy Kreme around the time of its IPO or when French gourmets review places such as McDonalds.

PS, I and others enjoy the South Side grease-soaked fries and white bread that come with chicken and BBQ. I don't think of them in the same terms as "frites" or even beef stand fries. They are always cheap, frozen floppy things that add bulk to the bag and soak up some of the oil. If I received different fries at a fried chicken, fried fish, or tips and links place, I'd question the establishment's authenticity.

3 severely odd things about this Harold's:

1) no bullet proof glass
2) 50" Plasma TV hanging on the wall
3) clean. holy cow was it clean. or.. at least it LOOKED clean...

i literally stepped back and gasped as i saw the plasma tv...

the chicken... was ok. not the best, not the worst. it was just fried, refreshingly ungreasy (relatively speaking) w/ fries equally disgusting as many other Harold's. but... i think i'm in love w/ the counter girl as she was cute and!!! brought me extra napkins + wet nap mid first crunchy, messy bite.

FWIW, if you want salt & pepper on your chicken / fries, you just ask for S&P as well as hot sauce and it should be written accordingly onto the outer paper bags.

TonyC wrote:3 severely odd things about this Harold's:

1) no bullet proof glass
2) 50" Plasma TV hanging on the wall
3) clean. holy cow was it clean. or.. at least it LOOKED clean...

i literally stepped back and gasped as i saw the plasma tv...

the chicken... was ok. not the best, not the worst. it was just fried, refreshingly ungreasy (relatively speaking) w/ fries equally disgusting as many other Harold's. but... i think i'm in love w/ the counter girl as she was cute and!!! brought me extra napkins + wet nap mid first crunchy, messy bite.

FWIW, if you want salt & pepper on your chicken / fries, you just ask for S&P as well as hot sauce and it should be written accordingly onto the outer paper bags.

I don't think that we're talking about the same Harold's -- I'm talking about the one on Milwaukee Ave. in Wicker Park. I was there Saturday and I don't recall seeing a Plasma TV. Also, when I asked the woman behind the counter for salt, she told me that they don't have any salt or pepper dispensers, other than the tiny packets sealed in the larger packets containing napkins and utensils.

136* N. Milwaukee. 99% sure i parked on Wicker Park's stretch of Milwaukee.

this was last nite. the plasma TV is definitely there - i haven't had a drink since Saturday - tho i am making presumptions about the S&P... so that's 50% error rate for me.

TonyC wrote:136* N. Milwaukee. 99% sure i parked on Wicker Park's stretch of Milwaukee.

That's the one! Maybe they just installed it . . . or maybe I had blinders on as I was anxiously awaiting my chicken.

Speaking of Hecky's vs Harolds, I have it on good authority that Harold's is looking at a location in Evanston on Howard St, including a dining area with tables. There's a fair amount of red tape involved, so I don't know...