At Harold's Chicken Shack

I and the family went to the newly-opened Harold's Chicken Shack last night. My justification for eating out when we really should have eaten at home was to say that it was a prelude to our trek to Alabama next summer. As others have noted, there was no bulletproof glass at the counter as there is at some of the chain's other locations in Chicago. And now onto the food:

The Kid: shrimp dinner
The Dulcinea: catfish dinner
Ich: half chicken dinner – dark meat (In your face, Samara Kalk Derby!)

Dinners came with French fries, cole slaw, and two (2) slices of white bread. N.B. – the slaw comes in those little paper cups that usually accommodate condiments which means you bet about 1.5 tablespoons of the stuff.

The boy enjoyed the shrimp. Being 11 years old and having a hankering for fast food, he really didn't say much other than it tasted great.

The D loved her catfish. The corn meal breading was apparently very good.

My chicken was a surprise in two ways. Firstly, the pieces (2 thighs and 2 legs) were huge and obviously came from some animal given fowl steroids. I mean they were massive, bordering on the elephantine. The legs looked like they came from a turkey while the thighs were probably 5oz. Secondly and much to my disappointment, the coating was very bland. Everything else was fine – the meat was juicy, the coating nice'n'crispy – but it just tasted like fried flour. I didn't have to have 11 herbs and spices but a hefty dose of salt was needed at the very least while pepper would have been icing on the cake.

I presume the reason for this is that HCS assumes you're going to be putting sauce on it whether it be BBQ or hot sauce. Caveat eaters! I ordered both hot and BBQ on the side but the boy's and The D's meals came with hot sauce already applied while mine came with none. (The kid's fries had it as did The D's fish.) Presently, I am putting this down to the kid who took my order. Like any teenager, he was distracted while I felt that I was pretty clear in asking for all sauces to be on the side. This didn't ruin our meals (though the boy needed extra beverage to cool down his tongue) but my advice is to be extra-super thorough when ordering as to what sauces you want and how you want them applied or to be super clear that you don't want any sauce at all and instead ask for some after you get your food.

On the other hand, the rest of staff members I encountered were really friendly and helpful. Plus The D remarked that it was the most black people she'd been around in Madison for ages, which made me chuckle. Indeed, it's not often that I, a bohunk, find myself a racial minority here in Madison. I could have been forgiven for thinking I was in a large city. And let me say that the place was hoppin'. A TV was tuned to one of those cable music stations playing contemporary R&B or urban music or whatever you feel like calling it. A lot of the people there both behind and in front of the counter seemed to know each other and it gave the feeling of being a neighborhood event, of sorts. I noticed that the guy who was dredging and battering the chicken often made his way out of the kitchen to chat. I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of the people there were originally from the south side of Chicago and were reveling in a bit of home. For having been open a mere two days, it already seemed to be a neighborhood institution.

Now all we need is to import a Wiener's Circle from Chicago to see how all the nice, polite, politically-correct Cheeseheads treat the staff.