Honey Butter Fried Chicken
Buttermilk Biscuit (Honey Butter came with Corn Muffins only)
Corn Muffins – Honey Butter
Pimento Mac ‘N Cheese
Fried Chicken & French Toast – Honey Butter, 100% Pure Maple Syrup
American Cobbler – Blueberry, Blackberry, Strawberry, Cool Whip
It was over five years before visiting that Honey Butter Fried Chicken opened in Avondale and with the recent announcement that Christine Cikowski and Josh Kulp’s Bird would be flying into Wrigley Field as part of the Ballpark’s “Chef Series” the question becomes how much extra they’ll charge for something already overpriced that relies almost entirely on a condiment to be better than Colonel Sanders.
Built on the ideas of “Awesome Ingredients, Stellar Service and Strong Community,” each part of the tripod explained by literature available on tables, it was moments after 10:00am that HBFC’s door was unlocked by a woman who said nothing and walked away, her male counterpart responsible for taking orders no more welcoming as he stood aside half-asleep allowing guests to peruse the menu.
Not the red-hot location of hour-plus lines it once was, only perhaps fifteen diners trickling in over the first forty-five minutes, it was from a small counter that selections were made to a total of over $30 including tax and tip, no beverage but a small marker handed over with Food soon to follow.
Sitting with a good vantage of the Kitchen, most items expectedly ready-made so early, it was while much of the meal sat plated that a thick slice of Brioche was soaked in Custard and fried, one boneless Breast from Miller Amish Farms in Indiana plopped on top and immediately slathered in the store’s other eponymous ingredient.
At this point already weighing cost to quantity but ready to find out if quality made up the difference it was immediately into one of two bite-size Cornbread that teeth sank, the crumb a little dry but good for drawing in Butter while a $4 Biscuit was apparently intended to stand on its own despite being pretty basic unless one wished to spend another two dollars for another ping pong ball of Butter.
Looking next at $5 of patriotic Cobbler put haphazardly in a cup, the bursting blend of Berries fine but Cool Whip as listed on the menu hardly “Awesome” and the total ingredients involved perhaps 50-cents, it was setting aside most of this that Spiral Noodles proved vastly more enjoyable thanks to tangy Pimento Cheese while Weekend-only French Toast was fairly one note as a base to Chicken that lacked seasoning but was plenty moist even once one got past all the Butter and Syrup.
www.honeybutter.com
