I saw Honey Butter Fried Chicken (HBFC) starting it's construction in 2012 when I was visiting Chicago visiting friends. The name had me right away, and so did the concept. Smear the honey butter all over the fried chicken. You don't have to tell me twice! Somehow I had never made it until today, but it was 100% worth the wait.
I met up with my pal Carl who is also in Chicago from the Twin Cities for work. His birthday is tomorrow, and I thought we should meet up for some birthday fried chicken. We went in to the joint: beyond adorable. The super friendly guy behind the counter offered us menus and we set out to order some goodness.
HBFC, very much to my chagrin, were out of the collard greens (super sad face). However, we made do. We ordered up the 4 piece chicken (comes with 3 biscuits), kale and cabbage slaw, pimento mac and cheese and creamed corn. They have pure cane sugar sodas on tap, and we both went with the ginger. They also have a full bar, local beer and wine. Next time I am for SURE gonna get the Smoky Derby.
Carl and I sat outside on their patio, and waited on our foods. It look literally no time at all: 5 minutes max. I was shocked at how fast it was, and super excited to dive in. The chicken from an antibiotic free and humanly raised farm in Indiana, and is boneless except for the leg. They explain their whole philosophy on their website, and they take it seriously. The chicken is served with corn muffins, and a whole lot of honey butter. The lovely girl who brought us our food told us yet again: slather the chicken with the butter. Yes M'am!
The chicken is fantastic. Super flavorful, not overseasoned or breaded, and the chicken is just crazy moist (I know, worst word ever) and flavorful. That honey butter does not hurt things either. The muffins are a perfect size, full of flavor, and again a great vehicle for more butter. And they had little bees and honeycombs on them! Adorable!
The sides: the pimento mac and cheese had a crazy depth of flavor I haven't experienced before. It was also the perfect portion, any more and it would be overkill. I would have liked it to be a bit warmer, but that is my weird temperature nit-picking. The creamed corn had a thai green curry in it that made the corn sing. Sweet, spicy, creamy, delicious. Kale and Cabbage slaw was light and refreshing, not overly dressed. It has a cumin-yogurt dressing that lends itself really well to the kale, and is topped with dried pomegrante. Crisp and light, a perfect balance with a lot of heavy creamy cheesy fried things.
Now: dessert. Okay, when I looked at the menu online I, of course, went straight to the desserts. I could not believe my eyes. DUMP CAKE. On a menu. Not at my parent's house. I was pretty sure my mind was playing tricks on me. But lo and behold, HBFC has a daily dump cake. At MARKET PRICE. What is happening. Who is the mastermind behind this and are they my new best friend (turns out, yeah kinda).
So I got the dump cake, obviously. It was a strawberry dump cake with balsamic whip cream. WHAT THE WHAT. Unbelievable. I can't even with this. I wanted to call my mom immediately (yes I have called her since to tell her all about the dump cake). Carl had never had dump cake, and now understands all of its wonders.
In summation: Honey Butter Fried Chicken is everything I hoped it would be and more. I will not be missing this ever again: it is on the list of must go to every time I am in town.
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