Critics’ choice: Fried chicken that’s worth a road trip

Lucy’s Fried Chicken Austin

Austin’s hottest new picnic-style joint “announces itself boldly” with a unique, flashing neon sign, said Matthew Odam in The Austin American-Statesman. “A leggy dame holding a chicken leg” beckons passing drivers to pull in beneath her glow for a piping-hot meal that, taste-wise, “has few rivals.” The fried chicken originated at chef James Holmes’s more upscale Olivia, but was too popular to remain just a weekly special there. Holmes couldn’t resist broadening Lucy’s menu to Gulf oysters, Texas chili, and daily-special sausages, but the chicken and sides are the reasons to visit. The birds served at Lucy’s are raised on vegetarian diets, and the parts are soaked for 24 hours in a buttermilk brine before cooking. Once the chicken has been fried to “rust-colored perfection,” the “knobby skin enshrines tangy, buttery meat made salty by a dash of soy sauce and piqued by cayenne and paprika.” Enjoy your bucket with some sides of smashed grilled potatoes and a few cold beers, but be sure to leave room for a slice of the oat-streusel shoofly pie. 2218 College Ave., (512) 297-2423

Federal Donuts Philadelphia

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Philadelphia’s most serious foodies “covet no prize more” at this moment than one of the several dozen red tickets handed out every day at this 6-month-old doughnut mecca, said Pete Wells in The New York Times. The doughnuts at this six-stool storefront easily earn their own long lines; they’re “rich, creamy, and light all at once.” But each $9 red ticket entitles the holder, late in the afternoon, to the only other item on the food menu—a “golden, juicy half chicken.” Chef Michael Solomonov takes inspiration for his coveted birds from Korean fried chicken. When unadorned, the chicken is “quite good,” though not so superior as to justify a pilgrimage by, say, a Tennessean. But most local devotees take their poultry with one of a variety of seasonings, including a garlic-and-red-chile glaze or za’atar—the Middle Eastern blend of sesame seeds and herbs. Either choice boosts Solomonov’s chicken “into the realm of the extraordinary." 1219 S. Second St., (267) 687-8258

Willie Mae’s Scotch House New Orleans

Anyone who undertakes a serious quest to find the country’s best fried chicken “will inevitably end up here,” said Larry Olmsted in USA Today. If the specialty at this “iconic but off-the-beaten-track” lunch spot isn’t the best you’ll ever taste, “it will be close.” Tucked away on a corner in the impoverished Fifth Ward, Willie Mae’s is so beloved by locals that volunteers pitched in to rebuild it after Hurricane Katrina. There’s still “no decor to speak of, just a ceiling fan and some beer bottles lined up on a shelf” to indicate the beverage choices. But three generations after Willie Mae’s founding, great-granddaughter Kerry Seaton is still guarding the family’s secret recipe and still serving fried chicken that manages “a seemingly impossible duet of textures.” The crust “shatters to the bite” and is light, like good tempura. Past that surface, the meat is “perfectly moist and juicy.” While “I can imagine” better fried chicken, “I haven’t found it yet.” 2401 St. Ann St., (504) 822-9503