Lake View Home to Nation's Best Fried Chicken

A local fried chicken favorite is getting national attention.

Crisp, the unique Korean restaurant in East Lake View, was recently named to Food and Wine magazine's best fried chicken joints in the country. 

The magazine chose the restaurant at 2940 N. Broadway St. because of what it brings to the table: a distinctive twist on the fried chicken scene.

“The quick-service joint turns out a half-dozen versions of Korean fried chicken,” Food and Wine writes. “Seoul Sassy birds are dipped in a garlic-ginger-soy blend, dusted with flour and then double-fried for a mysteriously greaseless finish. The Plain Jane has an almost translucent golden coating.”

And according to Crisp’s owner Jae Lee, serving up that delicious fried chicken was a no brainer. He says every culture has a chicken dish, and after doing exhaustive research around the nation, their Korean-American fried chicken was born.

“We wanted to bring Korean food into the mainstream,” Lee said in his video appetizer. “It started out with a bet to begin with. A lot of people were always talking about how Mexican, Thai, Chinese have all made the jump into the mainstream, whereas Korean food has never made that progression.

“Crisp is what came about,” Lee continued. “It’s about bringing Korean food to the masses as a format that was understandable to the non-Korean.”

Also making the list was Wicker Park’s Harold’s Chicken Shack because of its simplicity: white or dark meat fried in oil and served with hot sauce. 

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