Chicago: Honey Butter Fried Chicken

My sister is currently applying for med school, which means that she's been flying around going to interviews all over the country.  Back in October, she did Philly, Nashville, and Chicago all in one trip.

I tagged along on the Chicago leg just because why not?  It'd been two years since I was in Chicago and I figured a visit was long overdue.  So I took two comp days and away I went.

Going back to Chicago, I only had one goal and that was to see my friends.  I didn't care if we stayed in and watched TV the whole time, but if possible, I hoped to fit in three things: Maxwell Street Market, Edzo's, and Mott's St.  All food.

Of course.

My Mott St dreams were doused before I even got on the plane.  Sundays at Mott St are Supper Sundays, which means a set menu and reservations required.  Mondays are closed.  As we were scheduled to leave Tuesday, that left us with only Saturday.  Unfortunately, I wanted to do Mott St with Queen G and I'd reserved Saturday night entirely for CK.

CK picked me up at the airport Saturday afternoon with my sister already in the car.  The first thing we did after getting a tour of her house was eat kimchi buns and discuss what to have for dinner...and what to have for second dinner...and then what to eat on Sunday  CK was determined to keep us stuffed.

Sometime between the kimchi buns and the apple cider, CK gently warned me that Maxwell Street Market might also be a no-go.  Apparently, some kind of marathon was going on that Sunday, which meant traffic hell.

Ah, well.  One out of three wouldn't be bad.  Edzo's it was.

The plan was to go to Honey Butter Fried Chicken, a relatively new restaurant in the area, for first dinner and then Edzo's for second dinner.  Except as usual, all the best laid plans always go awry.  We got sucked into CK's TV and didn't leave for Honey Butter Fried Chicken until much later than originally intended:

Honey Butter Fried Chicken is quintessential Chicago.  Kinda woodsy and SUPER hipster:

You get in line, place your order at the counter, and then take your number to your table (when one becomes available).

There's a bar in the back with an interesting drink menu.  CK's husband and my sister got themselves some alcohol, but I was talked into getting a soda.  All the sodas at Honey Butter are craft sodas.  There are also a few flavored teas.  CK recommended mixing a couple sodas/teas, but I went with straight ginger soda;

Just the right blend of sweet and spicy.  And bottomless for $2,50, though I didn't get any refills.  Fail.

CK went WAY overboard.  But what else is new?  She ordered the pimento mac 'n cheese ($3.75), the creamed corn with Thai green curry ($3.75), and two biscuits:

That's right.  The creamed corn is made with Thai green chili.

Here's a close up of a glorious biscuit:

Crackly on the outside and soft on the inside.  Yum.

As if that wasn't enough sides, she also ordered a kale and cabbage slaw ($3.50):

The slaw came with yogurt cumin dressing and dried pomegranate.

Then came the chicken and grits ($9):

Cauliflower and roasted chicken on a bed of cheesy grits.  So damn good.

But way too much for four people given that we'd planned to have second dinner.  Not to mention CK also ordered 8-piece fried chicken ($28), which came with five corn muffins:

The signature of Honey Butter Fried Chicken is this:

Honey butter.  ($1 each if you want extra.)  Everything is good by itself, but honey butter makes it phenomenal.  Slather it on everything.  The biscuits,  The cute little corn muffins.  And yes, the chicken.  You won't question it until after you leave and realize, "What have I done?!"

Needless to say, we didn't make it to Edzo's.

I'm not as young as I used to be.  I'm starting to think second dinners are a thing of the past.


Honey Butter Fried Chicken
3361 N Elston Ave
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 478-4000
http://www.honeybutter.com/