I think the increasing OCD as I get older is due to two things that aren’t entirely unrelated. First, routine is a good substitute for a good memory. If you can get up and take all your pills as part of your morning routine, you don’t really need to remember to do it. Of course we all know that life hack is only temporary, but so is life. Secondly, that whisper of mortality in your ear every day makes you want your last fried chicken experience to be at least near the top experiences of all time. Inevitably, if I have a less than great food outing, I seem driven to correct it by going somewhere I know will produce. Chinese Inn on Nicholson has the best fried chicken I’ve encountered on this planet so far in the category of same day chicken. My old friend Charlie Smith rules the next day cold chicken category. While his slow poached chicken ( he pan fries it at about 280 in Crisco and it takes forever) is right up there hot, it somehow transforms into something incredible the next day. But if you aren’t young (relatively) and good looking, you are going to have a tough time getting him to make any chicken for you these days. He used to fry his chicken and we would boil eggs and make sandwiches the night before an Amite river outing. Big fun back then. Also fun was taking the girls to dinner at Chinese Inn Nicholson with its baroque ancient Chinese decor and excellent cuisine. The full sized and anatomically correct tiger statue always elicited wisecracks from the girls. Wish he was my friend! He’s got you beat Elrod! Worth it, though, for the extremely good times that always followed a trip to Chinese Inn.
Nowadays it’s my favorite lunch buffet to hit, especially when I need a fried chicken fix. Their seasoning just hits me right and they cook it at the perfect temp to crisp the batter and just finish cooking the meat so it is still juicy as hell when you bite down. Everything else is good too and they have some nice innovations on the buffet. They have a shrimp egg foo yung on the line, and they make up some moo shoo pork mini burritos that allow you to have a taste without filling the plate. And I am also a big fan of their shrimp fried rice. When you order it by itself they throw more shrimp in it than you get with the buffet. And though they aren’t on Waitr or anything, they do their own delivery after 4pm. And they can fry. The fried shrimp and fish is as good as anywhere, and the fried chicken is simply the best. Sorry Charlie.
