Hill Country Chicken
Another new opening in my area! Jeesh I don’t know how I’m going to fit into my wedding dress with all of these awesome new food places. Hill Country is pretty famous for its big Texas sized BBQ but now they opened up an off shot that purely about one thing-chicken. Mr. T was feigning for fried chicken the other day so we took a walk over through Madison Square Park and got some to go. We wanted to try a little bit of everything so the Pick of the Chick option seemed like our best bet. For $27 you get two pieces of breast, thigh, drum and wing.
Here are the Hill Country Classic chicken breasts. Well the menu had said these chickens were big but man I wasn’t expecting them to be so huge! One of these almost doubles what you would get at a fried chicken chain.
Here’s a look at the drum. The menu had also said these chickens were humanely raised on an all vegetable diet and then chilled for “superior flavor and juiciness”. Well I got to tell you they were right. This chicken was insanely moist and flavorful all the way through.
They have two styles of fried chicken- Classic and Mama El’s recipe. You’ve been looking at the Classic where the chicken is dipped in buttermilk, floured twice and then seasoned. The Mama El’s style is a little different as you can see below.
Here they use skinless chicken and coat it in a crunchy batter instead. I was kind of shocked about how good this second chicken was. The crispy batter kept the chicken juices in nicely and I didn’t miss any crunchy skin because the batter was so crunchy. Weird but good- believe me.
Our Pick of the Chick also came with four buttermilk biscuits that were the most amazing looking biscuits I had ever seen. They were so fluffy and golden outside they were like little orbs of southern goodness. They tasted almost as good as they looked too with lots of flakey buttery layers.
For our sides we ordered the cheesy fried mashed potatoes. The cheese had a strange fake taste to it- almost plasticy in texture and the potatoes were just really dull. I wouldn’t bother with these next time. I’d round out the meal with one of their fabulous looking pies instead.
Hill Country chicken is definitely a success in my book. The décor is a little loud- I’m not sure I’d want to eat in there very often because it does feel like a fast food joint a bit. However they do have boxes of wine on the menu. No seriously- you can order an entire box of wine with your meal. I don’t know why but I have to do that at least once. Where else in the country can you sit down to that for dinner! I’ll be back!
Here are the Hill Country Classic chicken breasts. Well the menu had said these chickens were big but man I wasn’t expecting them to be so huge! One of these almost doubles what you would get at a fried chicken chain.
Here’s a look at the drum. The menu had also said these chickens were humanely raised on an all vegetable diet and then chilled for “superior flavor and juiciness”. Well I got to tell you they were right. This chicken was insanely moist and flavorful all the way through.
They have two styles of fried chicken- Classic and Mama El’s recipe. You’ve been looking at the Classic where the chicken is dipped in buttermilk, floured twice and then seasoned. The Mama El’s style is a little different as you can see below.
Here they use skinless chicken and coat it in a crunchy batter instead. I was kind of shocked about how good this second chicken was. The crispy batter kept the chicken juices in nicely and I didn’t miss any crunchy skin because the batter was so crunchy. Weird but good- believe me.
Our Pick of the Chick also came with four buttermilk biscuits that were the most amazing looking biscuits I had ever seen. They were so fluffy and golden outside they were like little orbs of southern goodness. They tasted almost as good as they looked too with lots of flakey buttery layers.
For our sides we ordered the cheesy fried mashed potatoes. The cheese had a strange fake taste to it- almost plasticy in texture and the potatoes were just really dull. I wouldn’t bother with these next time. I’d round out the meal with one of their fabulous looking pies instead.
Hill Country chicken is definitely a success in my book. The décor is a little loud- I’m not sure I’d want to eat in there very often because it does feel like a fast food joint a bit. However they do have boxes of wine on the menu. No seriously- you can order an entire box of wine with your meal. I don’t know why but I have to do that at least once. Where else in the country can you sit down to that for dinner! I’ll be back!
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