Fried Chicken in Dallas

324 E. Belt Line Road, No. 201 Duncanville/DeSoto

972-400-8970

Fried Chicken

A tidal wave of Nashville- and Memphis-style hot chicken restaurants hit the Dallas area in 2020. The city’s biggest food fad is available at more than a dozen spots around town and in the suburbs, but 2 Neighbors stands out for three reasons. First, 2 Neighbors pounds the chicken breasts used in its sandwiches to make the finished product easier to eat. Those bulging piles of chicken at other restaurants may look good on Instagram, but will they actually fit inside your jaw? Second, the spiced coating at 2 Neighbors — which, we’ll admit, isn’t as spicy as at many rival spots; “medium” here means a comfortable, gentle burn — doesn’t have the sandy, gritty texture of the added spices at other hot chicken spots. Third, there’s the issue of heritage: Nashville-style hot chicken comes from African-American tradition, but 2 Neighbors appears to be one of just two Black-owned independent hot chicken restaurants in the area right now. (The other is Helen’s in Lewisville.)

1 article

Babe's Chicken Dinner House

230 N. Center St. Arlington

817-801-0300

Fried Chicken, Southern, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Readers' Choice

The small menu here reflects the predominantly fried All-Stars of Texan and Southern cuisine. There's fried chicken and chicken-fried steak, natch. There's fried catfish and pot roast. There's fried chicken tenders and smoked chicken. That's the entire selection of main dishes at Babe's Chicken Dinner House. No joke. And that's a relief to see in a market chock-full of Southern/soul food shops slinging what seems like infinite permutations on the fried. The selection of side dishes (gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet corn, green beans, green salad and biscuits) and desserts (pineapple upside-down cake, chocolate meringue pie, coconut meringue pie, lemon meringue pie and banana pudding) is similarly tiny. But what's not tiny? The portions. They're served in true down-home style, with helpings as large as the elastic-waistband pants needed to eat at Paul Vinyard's 11,000 square-foot homage to poultry.

4 articles

Babe's Chicken Dinner House

1006 W. Main St. Carrollton/Farmers Branch

972-245-7773

Fried Chicken, Southern, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Readers' Choice

The small menu here reflects the predominantly fried All-Stars of Texan and Southern cuisine. There's fried chicken and chicken-fried steak, natch. There's fried catfish and pot roast. There's fried chicken tenders and smoked chicken. That's the entire selection of main dishes at Babe's Chicken Dinner House. No joke. And that's a relief to see in a market chock-full of Southern/soul food shops slinging what seems like infinite permutations on the fried. The selection of side dishes (gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet corn, green beans, green salad and biscuits) and desserts (pineapple upside-down cake, chocolate meringue pie, coconut meringue pie, lemon meringue pie and banana pudding) is similarly tiny. But what's not tiny? The portions. They're served in true down-home style, with helpings as large as the elastic-waistband pants needed to eat at Paul Vinyard's 11,000 square-foot homage to poultry.

8 articles

Babe's Chicken Dinner House

104 N. Oak St., Roanoke Fort Worth

817-491-2900

American, Comfort Foods, Fried Chicken, Southern, Traditional, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Menu, Readers' Choice

The small menu here reflects the predominantly fried All-Stars of Texan and Southern cuisine. There's fried chicken and chicken-fried steak. That's the entire selection of main dishes at Babe's Chicken Dinner House. No joke. And that's a relief to see in a market chock-full of Southern/soul food shops slinging what seems like infinite permutations on the fried. The selection of side dishes (gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet corn, green salad and biscuits) is similarly tiny. But what's not tiny? The portions. They're served in true down-home style, with helpings as large as the elastic-waistband pants needed to eat at Paul Vinyard's original Babe's location.

10 articles

Babe's Chicken Dinner House

1456 Belt Line Rd., #171 Garland & Vicinity

972-496-1041

American, Comfort Foods, Fried Chicken, Southern, Traditional, Critics' Pick, Best Of, Menu, Readers' Choice

We figure there's something wrong with people who can't enjoy an occasional fried chicken dinner. Nonetheless, we feared we'd be wandering onto the documentary set piece for America: The Obese at Babe's, a venerable family dining establishment in a Garland strip mall, a place where you'd expect to find an all you can eat fried chicken restaurant. We were wrong, sort of. Not everyone looked like they'd been feeding on fried chicken skin their entire lives, but all-you-can-eat places do tend to serve as magnets for the gluttonous. If we're going to overdo it, it might as well be with fried chicken and side dishes as tasty as these. Babe's serves up family-style dinners which include piles of super-crispy, thick-breaded monster chicken pieces, an iceberg lettuce salad (very fresh, with a sweet vinaigrette), tasty green beans, creamed corn (for those who can stand the sight of it), biscuits and excellent mashed potatoes. Everything, it seems, is doused in butter. Babe's has a few other things on the menu as well, including hickory-smoked chicken, pot roast, chicken-fried steak and fried catfish. Eat till you explode.

15 articles

Brick & Bones

2713 Elm St. Downtown/Deep Ellum

469-914-6776

Fried Chicken, Critics' Pick, Slideshow, DrinkHere

This bar in Deep Ellum has effortless charm and an easy attitude. Brick & Bones has six house cocktails all priced to move at $10 to $12, plus a bevy of beer ($2 pony High Lifes), wine and liquors. The small kitchen in the back pushes out 24-hour-brined Mexican-inspired chicken fried to order that will light your soul on fire and maybe other things. It's sexy-hot, but keep that down low because influencers may pick up on it and ruin the joint. Drinks roll out quickly, and service is on point. This is a pocket of Deep Ellum's old soul.

5 articles

Chicken Scratch

2303 Pittman St. Oak Cliff/South Dallas

214-749-1112

Fried Chicken, Soul Food, Southern, Critics' Pick, Menu

You could almost pretend you're in your friend's backyard when you're hanging out here. The east side of the courtyard is framed by the two buildings that house the restaurant and bar. To the west, shipping containers that once sat stacked on railcars have been reinvented as furnished front porches. To the north is an open-sided building with a few more tables and a setup for games. To the south is Dallas' most attractive outdoor stage, built from wooden shipping pallets stacked into a cascading rounded giant that drunkenly leans to the side. The four sides frame what might be Dallas' coolest outdoor space, serving food that would be at home at any picnic, and lots of beer. Fried chicken boasts spotty skin that can't stay put, but is big on flavor. Wood-roasted chicken tinged with subtle smoke comes draped in tangy barbecue sauce. Sides are decent across the board. Paired with a beer from the Foundry (or seven) you'll have the makings of a fine afternoon picnic.

10 articles

Darkoo's Chicken Shack

4812 Bryan St., #101 East Dallas & Lakewood

Laotian, Fried Chicken

Darkoo's Chicken Shack is the latest concept (and replacement, if you will, of Khao Noodle Shop) from Donny Sirisavath. Here he partnered Jimmy Niwa of Niwa Japanese BBQ and they serve Asian-style fried chicken.

Like a Khao, the menu here is tight. There are four chicken options on Darkoo's menu along with 11 sides and five house-made sauces. For the mains Lao gai, Lao grilled chicken, comes in two or four-piece buckets with fries or rice. Karaage, chunks of mostly dark meat coated and deep fried, is also served with a side of fries or rice. Panko chicken are all-white meat tenders with a thick crust of panko. A plate of Khao mun gai is poached chicken served atop seasoned rice. Finally, "incogmeato" are vegetarian tenders.

The sides are a hopscotch of cultures. There are the traditional sides we'd expect to find at an American fried chicken place: macaroni salad and coleslaw. Then there's "eLAOtes," a nod to the Mexican street food often found in East Dallas. Plus traditional Lao and Thai dishes. We tried the spicy cucumber salad that comes with dismembered crabs; a pincher here and leg there throughout the salad. The cucumbers are soaked in a vinegary sauce and aren't too spicy. But the crabs pack heat; be careful sucking the juices and meat out of those as those little guys. They hoarded some serious spice before becoming part of the menu here.

2 articles

Helen's Hot Chicken

413 Round Grove Rd. Lewisville

972-537-5849

Fried Chicken, Best Of

2 articles

Popeyes

12435 S. Plano Rd. Garland & Vicinity

972-494-5139

Fried Chicken, Restaurants, Best Of, Menu

Popeyes comes by its "Louisiana fast" motto honestly. Founded in 1972 in the New Orleans suburb of Arabi, the company still specializes in Big Easy-style spicy chicken, along with buttermilk biscuits. Now operating in more than 2,000 cities, Dallas / Fort Worth included, Popeyes is all about batter-dipped innovations such as Rip'n Chick'n, an oddly shaped item consisting of a chicken breast covered in crispy batter and shaped like a seven-fingered hand (described by one reviewer as "deep-fried mutant hands"!). The dish is served with ranch sauce to quell the cayenne and habanera pepper flavors. Find your nearest Popeyes on Voice Places.

1 article

Rice Chicken

2558 Royal Lane Northwest Dallas

Fried Chicken, Korean, Best Of

5 articles

Whistle Britches

6110 Frankford Rd. North Dallas

Fried Chicken, Southern

7 articles

Fried Chicken in Dallas

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