INTEL: Where to go… for extra crispy fried chicken.

We know there are a lot of places for fried chicken from fried chicken sandwiches to bird that’s been

buttermilk-brined. But not all fried chicken is equal. We’re talking about the eye-rolling kind, the true meaning of “finger-licking good.” Sure, we’re happy chowing down at Chicken Joe’s or Dave’s Hot Chicken, but that’s not what this is. This is opinionated intel. And we have a top 5.

Photo: The Nest (JP Elario/The Nest)

Where to go for the best fried chicken right now.

I’ve written about a lot of fried chicken and gone deep in the processes of how the best of the best is made. There are more top tier contenders, but if someone asks where to get the best fried chicken in the Capital Region, you’ll need this list on hand. These 5 aren’t just crowd pleasers - crisp, tender and impeccably seasoned - you can be sure they’re reliably and consistently good.

(Coming soon: A Hudson Valley Part II.)

1. Allie B’s Cozy Kitchen, 353 Clinton Ave, Albany Visit
   Whether it’s love or magic (which is how chef-owner Kizzy Williams-Francisco describes her food), the soul food at Allie B's Cozy Kitchen both baked in. Order the fried chicken, served on a slice of white bread, and crunch through its brittle batter and crisp skin into perfect, steaming meat. Simply seasoned with salt and pepper, a quick dredge in flour ("the trick is to never let it sit") before it’s dunked in a fryer of hot canola oil, this is some of the best fried chicken you’ll have anywhere. This slim subterranean takeout spot in Arbor Hill is a surprising destination but in the day the lunch lines snake out the door and they might sell out before close.
   

2. West Ave Chicken, 99 West Ave, Saratoga Visit
   You really need to try the Guatemalan menu available at West Ave Chicken and West Ave Pizza, two adjoining businesses that owner Mario Cardenas has connected by knocking through the dividing wall. But we’re here now for the ultra crispy fried chicken crispy sold by the half-bird or by the piece, dark or white. Instead of the tightening and shrinkage common when frying chicken, Mario has a secret way of tenderizing the meat before dredging it in flour for massive, shaggy results, and a crisp batter that gives way to a softer, less chewy bite than you’d expect. The pro move is to order two Junior sandwiches for less than $12, like a pair of oversized sliders with fried chicken dressed up your chosen two ways. Maybe try the North Country with coleslaw and tangy pickles and an extreme Nashville Mac & Cheese that does naughty things to a Nashville Hot.
   

3. Saint Florian, 342 Warren Street, Hudson Visit
   Robb Finn, a French Culinary Institute-trained chef who worked at a series of award-winning restaurants from Manhattan to Bogota, Colombia, puts fried chicken, fish and chips and a smash burger on an everyman menu but he’s still busy in the kitchen doing cheffy things. His “fried chicken snack” larger than its name suggests and definitely not ordinary. The buttermilk brined chicken, tenderized with the French jacquarding technique, has skin fried to a shellac shell and its mahogany color comes from Coca Cola in the batter, just like Willie Mae’s fried chicken in New Orleans.
   

4.  The Nest, 512 State Street, Schenectady  Visit
   There are plenty of good reasons to go to The Nest from craft cocktails to owner Kaytrin’s famous biscuits, only available here since their original restaurant, The Cuckoo’s Nest in Albany, has closed. But the fried chicken that arrives in shaggy, seasoned batter was a radical departure from their successful Cuckoo’s Nest fried chicken. In opening The Nest, chef-owner Devin Ziemann introduced a pressure fryer that batch-cooks chicken in 10 minutes — meaning they can fry almost to order — and a built-in filtration system delivers clean fryer oil several times an hour. Since the natural sugars in a buttermilk-brined chicken would caramelize at this heat and burn, The Nest’s pressure fried chicken is not only juicy from its locked-in heat but also entirely dairy free.  
   

5. City Beer Hall, 42 Howard Street, Albany Visit
   A lot has changed at City Beer Hall, first with the departure of long time chef Dimitrios Menagias and more recently with Blu Pizza taking over the kitchen and simplifying the menu to salads, pizzas and sandos. They even cancelled the wildly popular brunch although new intel says it’s coming back. But Menagias’ Southern fried chicken sandwich lives on with its pickle-brined chicken thigh, sambal aioli, bread-and-butter coleslaw, spicy pickles and Martin’s potato bun.