First, these thighs are very good.
Possibly the best I've ever eaten.
I ate one, brought home the rest, and they amounted to 4 separate meals.
They're large boneless thighs. The coating is possibly 50% cornmeal. It's held on nice and tightly. It doesn't break off and make a huge mess. It is not over-salted.
There are not eleven secret herbs and spices. There is no garlic salt and onion salt and celery salt and smoked salt and kosher salt and sea salt and pink Himalaya salt and Celtic sea salt and salty salt and extra salty salted salt.
And I don't know how they apply the coating, if they're chilled in between, or pressure cooked or what.
They do not appear to be brined or marinated in buttermilk. The meat is a bit tough actually and tight on the bone. It is not tender and does not fall away from the bone.
I've made more tender thighs myself, actually, just frying them straight with no coating at all, in shallow oil in a pan stovetop. The small thighs purchased from Whole Foods are extremely tender.
I will probably not be buying these again.
Because they're so freaking expensive.
The meal shown above plus an extra orange soda was $28.00 and that's just too much for what you get. You can do a lot LOT LOT better than that elsewhere.
The thing is, the Royal Rooster actually sells fried chicken sandwiches. These thighs are a side dish. $4.00 each, so that means the piddly amount of coleslaw and two orange sodas cost $12.00.
What the hell are they doing? Charging $4.00 for a few tablespoons of coleslaw and $4.00 each for an orange soda?
I didn't study the menu. I just ordered. And I can handle $28.00 easily but when you look at the plate, how forlornly bare it is, it is simply not worth it. I feel ripped off.
The whole experience isn't worth it.
The whole place is an elaborate food court. Some of the places weren't open like the juice bar and the empanada place, that I noticed. I was more in and out this time. A lot of other places I didn't even look at. I wasn't in the mood to study all that's available.
I do know the sushi bar is similarly overpriced and the drinks that they offer are just bogus. Tiny bottles with a marble in the neck. I have no idea what that marble is for. It restricts taking large sips. So all you ever get are tiny baby sips, because of the trick marble inside the bottle that increase the cost X 10. It's a stupid purposeless gimmick. I don't like it.
I think the point of the whole place is to buy their tickets for the beer bar. Then you can drink as much as you like. Or perhaps cocktails from the regular bar. So far the soft drinks and the juice bar are a disappointment.
The place is extremely noisy with human voices. Open area, hard surfaces. The chatter becomes a roar.
The four or so windows, possibly five, lift up as garage doors, exposing the entire half wall to the sidewalk along Broadway. Westword newspaper is on the opposite side of the street. So the view is the sidewalk and its foot traffic, Broadway traffic, Westword, and possibly on a good day maybe the mountains far in the distance behind them. But mostly Broadway traffic.
What I recall as I walked by the windows to get to the front door, was two people in conversation having a date, looking at each other and nothing else, and two people in conversation having a date, looking at each other and nothing else, and two people in conversation having a date, looking at each other and nothing else, and two people in conversation having a date, looking at each other and nothing else.
If it were a cartoon it'd be like Fred Flintstone running through his house, sofa, table, picture, sofa table, picture, sofa, table, picture, sofa, table, picture.
I said to the last couple. "Hey! I didn't know these windows rolled up. This is kind of neat." The woman answered, "yeah, I know, right?"
It's kind of weird, me, a perfect stranger, talking to you through the window when you're sitting there on a date looking at each other and nothing else.
"Yeah. I know, right?"
I'm being unfair.
On the way out I encountered a lovely couple walking in. On a date, looking at each other and nothing else. I asked them if they know in advance where they are going. That opened a perfectly lovely conversation with two beautiful people and it does show that if you try then you can have a great time. But my time was more perfunctory.
Since I wasn't on a date looking at someone and nothing else.
It's the place to go on a date. When you don't care that much about cost. Of everything.
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