I grew up in Inglewood, hence the title of this blog. And way back in the day, there was this little fried chicken franchise called Golden Bird. It was a batter fried concept sort of like another chicken shack called Pioneer. But Golden Bird was special because it was black owned, at least that's what my family told. Anyway, Golden Bird has gone the way of the dodo, but there is this guy who used to run one, and now he has opened his own chicken place. It's in Culver City and it's called Honey's Kettle Fried Chicken.
Now, I've had a taste for Golden Bird, so I decided to take a trip to Culver City to try his chicken. Here are a few things to note:
1. When you go to an ethnic restaurant, and you don't see any ethnics, turn around and leave. Seriously. I walked into Honey's and there wasn't a black person in sight. That is not a good sign. It's okay to have a mix of folks, but if you go into a Mexican food restaurant, and Mexicans are buying, you've to think this might be a bit suspect.
2. I look at the menu and I notice something else. The prices. Now I'm sympathetic to black businesses having higher prices, mainly because we pay higher rates, get less financing, etc. But these prices were HIGH. But I bought it anyway.
3. The wait. Now the restaurant looks great, but they were obviously down two staff. That explains why it took twenty minutes to get a three piece. TWENTY MINUTES. It was three piece of chicken. Six minutes per chicken. The chicken was just sitting there, waiting to be placed in the paper basket.
4. Finally, I ordered a peach pie which looked better than it actually was.
The verdict on the chicken? It was good, but not great. Tasted just like Golden Bird, but maybe that was the problem. What my taste buds liked at ten is different than today. Maybe you can't go back home again.
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7 comments:
Aw man. I remember Golden Bird. They have it out here now, matter of fact. But my favorite Black-owned chicken biz is Williams--located allllllll over DFW. You've been here. Have you tried it?
I haven't yet. We're dropping off the munchkin for the annual Grandma and his thousand cousins vacation near July 4th, so I might try it. But I did try a Chinese food restaurant that my sister ordered take out from that was the BEST I'd ever tasted. Seriously, better than anything Chinese in my life. Can't remember the name, but I'm going to grub on it when I get to Dallas in July.
You had me at peach pie.
I love peach anything.
Golden Bird! Flashback!
I remember from days hanging with my LA born roommate. I still say Stevies on Crenshaw has the best chicken.
LMAO!!!!!!!!!!! Man Golden Bird was the spot! The last one I went to was on Slauson and Western. I will be in L.A on my way back from Hawaii so I can see my family, I will need to hit up a few spots. Oh I live in Dallas now and Williams sucks, it is all over the place out here. I went to see what everyone was talking about and yuk. All I can say is old grease!
I'm glad you wrote this because Honey Kettle taste just like Golden Bird along with the sweet pickle. There is one Golden Bird left on Western and 90 something
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