FRIED CHICKEN OPTIONS ARE NEW MENU ADDITIONS FOR SPRINGTIME
Fried chicken, the meal of choice for spring picnics, is popping up on multiple San Diego restaurant menus this month in sandwiches and other variations. Here’s the latest:
Junya’s Crispy Karaage: latest culinary creation from RakiRaki Ramen owner/chef Junya Watanabe is his twist on the Japanese style of fried chicken known as karaage. Antibiotic-free chicken is marinated for 48 hours in fermented soy sauce and 12 spices, garlic and ginger, then coated with 22 spices, double-fried and served with house Japanese (kewpie) mayonnaise. The karaage is available in regular and spicy varieties in jumbo boxes, in sliders, with fries, in ramen or curry and in a bento box, priced from $11.40 to $25. The new JCK menu, introduced last week, is available at the RakiRaki location at 4646 Convoy St., Suite 102-A in Kearny Mesa. It’s also available for takeout. Visit rakirakiramen.com.
Farmer Boys: This fastcasual cooked-to-order burgers chain permanently added a chicken sandwich to its menu on March 30. Made with all-natural chicken, the sandwiches are double-dipped in batter and come in classic and fiery varieties. Riverside-based Farmer Boys has two locations in Escondido: 1333 E. Valley Parkway and 925 W. Mission Ave. Visit farmerboys.com.
Baba’s Hot Chicken: Also born in Riverside, Baba’s specializes in Nashvillestyle hot chicken with four different spice levels. Its chicken is available in sandwiches, tenders and loaded fries plates. Baba’s opened its first San Diego County location March 18 at 406
The
University Ave. in Hillcrest. Visit babashotchicken.com.
Scuderie Italia: Open since September in Pacific Beach, this Neapolitan-style pizzeria and restaurant added a fried chicken sandwich to its lunch menu on March 25. The sandwich is made with buttermilk-marinated chicken thigh meat and topped with Calabrian chili mayo. It’s at 1525 Garnet Ave., San Diego. Visit scuderieitalia.com.
International Smoke Del Mar: Michael Mina and Ayesha Curry’s 2-year-old global barbecue restaurant introduced a new happy hour menu in March with Tokyo-style fried chicken bites and a spicy fried chicken sandwich. These items are only available on the patio from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays at its restaurant at One Paseo, 3387 Del Mar Heights Road, Building 1, San Diego. visit michaelmina.net.
Shake Shack: In January, Shake Shack debuted two Korean-inspired fried chicken items to its burgercentric menu: The Koreanstyle Fried Chick’n sandwich is served with kimchi slaw on a toasted sesame seed bun. The Korean Gochujang Chick’n bites and fries includes fried chicken tenders served with spicy-sweet gochujang mayo sauce. Visit shakeshack.com.
McDonald’s: America’s biggest burger chain entered the chicken sandwich wars in February with its new crispy chicken sandwiches, available in regular, deluxe and spicy varieties. The battered and fried white-meat patties are served with crinkle-cut pickles on a buttered potato roll. Visit mcdonalds.com.
Naegi Izakaya: Chef William Eick’s Japaneseinspired Matsu restaurant, slated to open soon at 626 Tremont St. in Oceanside, will share kitchen space with Eick’s new karaage chicken and egg salad sandwich takeout concept, Naegi. The karaage sandwiches will be served on Eick’s house-baked Japanese milk bread buns. For opening updates, visit instagram.com/naegi_izakaya/.
San Diego Restaurant Week returns
After taking last spring off due to the pandemic lockdown, San Diego Restaurant Week has returned this week.
More than 100 San Diego-area restaurants are serving two-course prix-fixe lunch menus for $10, $15, $20 and $25 and three-course dinner menus for $20, $30, $40, $50 and $60. Dining options include limited dine-in and patio service as well as take-home meals. The series launched Sunday and continues through Saturday. Reservations are strongly suggested due to COVID-related capacity limits.
For a list of participating restaurants and the menus, visit sandiegorestaurantweek.com.
Kettner Exchange hosts Cochon dinner
Brian Redzikowski, the Kettner Exchange chef who won top prize at the 2019 Grand Cochon culinary event in Chicago, will host a take-home Cochon555 dinner event on April 22. Cochon555 is a national culinary movement to promote and support familyrun heritage pork farms in the U.S.
Customers can order a carry-out five-course porkcentric dinner kit for pickup at Kettner from either 3 to 4 p.m. or 4 to 5 p.m. April 22. Then at 7 p.m. that evening, they will tune in for a Zoom meeting with Redzikowski, who will show them how to put the finishing touches on their meal and share information on how to support local family farms. A meal kit for one person is $95, $175 for two. For menu and instructions, visit cochon555.com/chef-brianredzikowski/.