Flock & Fowl
Hainan Chicken Rice – Poached Chicken, Rice, House Sauces with added Chinese Sausage
Fried Tenders and Rice with House Sauces
Chicken Wings – Mrs Han’s Twice Cooked Szechuan
Chicken Wings – Thai Style with Fish Sauce, Garlic, and Lemon
Cornish Game Hen with Kale, Tomato, Cucumber, Grape, Cranberry, Sunflower Seeds, Almonds, and Sesame Vinaigrette Salad
Bao-Chicka-Bao Bao with Kale Slaw
Achieving unlikely success in the middle of Eureka Casino with his Great Bow-turned-Brick+Mortar Fat Choy, Sheridan Su has seemingly found success where so many others have failed largely by keeping head down, eyes up, while focusing on quality of the product, and narrowing his focus even further at recently opened Flock & Fowl the young Chef finds has proven the rare double threat with a “do one thing and do it well” space that gets it right.
Historically an adapted dish of early Chinese decedents from the Hainan Province, but offered throughout Asia and a few famous shops speckled around the United States, Su and his wife Jenny officially started obsessing over the dish following a visit to Taiwan and although a recipe of poached chicken and rice cooked in chicken fat may seem ‘simple,’ its perfection lies in the details – all of which the duo seems to have dialed in.
No more fanciful in location than Fat Choy. the renovated space on Sahara next to a pawn shop and within view of the Strip Clubs on Industrial Road in the shadow of The Strip, Flock & Fowl seems as intentionally limited in its seating as it is in its menu and with Sheridan in the Kitchen as Jenny works the room orders are placed at the counter with service fast to follow, a “one of each” order seeing our table of six served in three successive rounds.
Starting with Sheridan’s longtime signature buns, in this case graced with crispy buttermilk soaked bird from Mary’s Free Range with a bit of kale slaw and sauce, it almost seems silly that anyone could be excited about the pending opening of Chick-fil-A with such a thing available, each bite first met by pillowy bao before giving way to bittersweet flavors juxtaposing juicy, well-seasoned meat.
Rare to be wowed by wings, though always open to a change of heart, round two saw Sheridan send out a couple extra bites of each flavor to that the whole table could enjoy, and with two flavors available the only real question is which of them to order, the Szechuan expectedly the ‘hotter,’ though certainly not ridiculous, while the fish-sauce tossed Thai style rivaled those at Pok-Pok for flavor, if not for size.
Served all three entrees at once, easily enough to feed six adults when paired with that which had already come, suffice it to say that the Chicken tenders were perfectly fine if not particularly ‘wowing’ compared to the rest, yet when paired to the housemade chile sauce or chunky bits of garlic the three-piece order was an absolute steal for just $9, the crispy cornish hen another veritable steal alongside a complex and elegant salad for just a dollar more.
Speaking last to the dish Su set out to perfect it should first be said that many at the table had never sought out a truly authentic version until this date, but whether a virgin or a veteran none at the table seemed to be disappointed in the silky broiled breast or the fluffy white rice, a $2 addition of spicy Chinese sausage every bit worth the surcharge while the bonus broth was chock-a-block full of flavor without being pumped up with salt or MSG.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS: Flawed only in the inherent limitations of space, an outsourced single dessert, and menu – the later to be remedied by specials from time-to-time – Flock & Fowl has thus far shown that perhaps Las Vegas is ready to embrace such a focused concept – the early word almost universally favorable, but a fate that only time and the fickleness of local ‘media’ will tell.
RECOMMENDED: Hainan Chicken, Chicken Bao, Thai Style Wings.
AVOID: Arriving with too large a group if you are really hungry as seating is limited and wait times can vary with everything made to order.
TIP: Keep an eye on Social Media for daily specials and take note of hours, at this time only open 10:30am to 3:00pm Tuesday through Saturday.
WHAT THE STARS MEAN: 5 World Class, 4 Excellent, 3 Good, 2 Fair, 1 Poor
http://www.flockandfowl.com/
