We're enjoying a golden age of fried chicken in Washington. (See what we did there?)
One of the latest entrants into the field is Succotash, Edward Lee's new Southern-with-an-Asian-twist restaurant in National Harbor.
Lee's menu features not one, but two, fried chicken dishes. There's your more traditional fried chicken and waffles -- served with bacon maple syrup, natch. But Lee's cooking is best represented by the "dirty" fried chicken, which is what we ordered on a recent evening. And, yeah, you'll want to keep your napkin handy for it.
Think of this rendition of the Southern classic as a little like BonChon meets Buffalo. After bathing in a soy sauce and vinegar-based brine, the dark-meat pieces are dipped in flour and pressure-fried. Then comes the dirty part: A vivid red coating of a house-made sauce of gochujang (Korean chili paste) and honey. Garnished with blue cheese, pickles and nori, the dish is balanced mix of sweet and spicy, though not hot enough that it should scare the capsaicin-averse.
The fried chicken, like all mains at Succotash, is sold a la carte. We recommend rounding out your meal with a side or two, such as the corn bread or unexpected but delightful salad of watermelon and fried peanuts.
So, fried chicken. What's next? We'll sit back, clutch our Wet-Naps and wait and see.
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