Bok-a-Bok Chicken -- the Renaissance Continues
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There is little doubt that chicken is the most popular and regularly consumed animal protein on the planet. That quirky, clucking bird of barnyards, backyards and poultry farms has over eons found itself nesting very low on the human food chain. Nearly everyone eats chicken and because of that it are often considered an inexpensive and almost pedestrian form of food. But waves of popularity rise and fall over the homely chicken, resulting in periods when for better-heeled eaters it is all the rage. Such is the case today, where a chicken craze is sweeping the planet, with young chefs innovating new, better methods of cooking this most basic of meat. At the moment, the biggest poultry obsession is frying. Flocks of cooks are coming up with fried chicken recipes that are turning our feathered friends into gourmet meals. This phenomenon isn’t new; just as building a better mousetrap will cause people to beat a path to your door. So let’s just call it another chicken renaissance.
Like all things that people try to improve upon, some versions are better than others. But once in a while you come upon a place where they have figured it out. Bok-a-Bok Fried Chicken & Biscuits is one such place, presenting Korean style fried chicken with a twist. Here they have found a crack in the traditional rules of frying the ubiquitous bird that elevates it to new heights. Sure, there are many Korean fried chicken joints to be found and most are considered a notable departure from the US southern fried version found everywhere. The skin is crispier, the batter thinner and often they are fried twice. But Bok-a-Bok has taken Korean fried chicken even further and makes it crow louder than the rest.
But first, a reality rant. Every fried chicken fanatic knows what all fried-bird wannabes refuse to acknowledge: only the dark meat of the bird is really worth frying. Let’s be honest: it’s a sad reality that chicken breast -- that healthier, white meat diet food that so many think they should eat -- gets dry and stringy when exposed to high heat for any significant period of time. Sure, it’s lower in calories and fat, so a seemingly better choice than the rest of the bird. But, hang on excuse-seekers of the poultry world! Remember what we’re talking about here: FRIED chicken. Once you slide your toe across that calorie-counting line and into the abyss of fried poultry, all bets are off on your weight loss ambitions, and trying to “diet” by eating dry, flavorless chunks of dense white chicken breast is, well, just a silly exercise in denial. And, c’mon, if someone says they actually prefer the taste of fried breast over any other part of the bird, they are either lying or perhaps don’t really like fried chicken at all. Suffice it to say that fried chicken -- the good stuff anyway -- consists only of dark meat.
The cooks at Bok-a-Bok understand this little-admitted reality and therefore don’t even offer whole breast as a chicken choice on their menu. With the exception of a few strips of tenders, the focus is on thighs, legs and wings at the ground zero location in food-centric White Center of this small four-store chain of chicken excellence (the other three locations are in Capitol Hill, U-district and Burien). One of the things that sets their chicken apart from other Korean fry houses is their battered skin. The bird is brined and then air-dried before cooking to enhance the crispiness and mitigate the ever present three-way battle of moisture versus time versus temp. They also create greater surface area by taking, say, a typical full-figured chicken thigh and splaying it into something larger, wider and with more exposed skin than any other chicken thigh I’ve seen before. It makes you take a second look and offers a moment to ponder Bok-a-Bok’s methods. You realize that what they do is clever, both from a portion size and food science perspective. Because they know that greater surface area means more crispiness in less time in very hot oil. Combine that intelligent technique with a batter which is greater than the mere sum of its parts. There is a spice — evocative of Asia but not quite Asian-tasting — that they mix into their batter; a gentle umami essence that is at once distinct yet not overpowering. Not of warming five-spice (that would be cliche) nor of chili heat (that would be predictable), but of something deep and subtle and a little bit haunting in it’s ghostly passes over your taste buds. I don’t know what it is, and they just laughed politely when I asked. But what I do know is, take that wide-splayed thigh, dry it in some cold air, dip it in that batter and drop it in the oil — twice (with another air-drying in between) — and you have fried chicken that stands apart in Seattle’s bustling barnyard of crispy birds.
Of course Bok-a-Bok doesn't stop there. You can get their fried chicken neat — and you will get it frequently once you have tried it — or select from an eclectic array of dipping sauces which they encourage you to try (hint: don’t miss the Spiced Honey sauce for a real treat). But they will also make a chicken sandwich for you, such as their Yuzu Green Chile sandwich that combines that beautiful thigh with charred pasilla peppers, dill pickles, pea sprouts and yuzu aioli on a brioche bun. That chicken, with the citrusy/spicy veg and — yes dill-pickley sourness — is one of the best damn chicken sandwiches you will find anywhere.
And then there are the wings. Because everyone knows that if you love good fried chicken, you love wings, too, and the people at Bok-a-Bok have not missed that. Dry or wet, the wings are prepared the same way, with a selection of usual-suspect flavorings and offer that super-tensile crunch followed by moist, deliciously brined meat. But stretch your own wings a little by getting the wet wings with Fish Sauce Caramel and you will be happier than you can know. Because the almost-sweet sticky fish sauce coating, enhanced with mint, cilantro, fresno chili and lime, will awaken your fried poultry awareness like never before and change your wing-eating life forever.
1521 SW 98th St Ste D, White Center, Seattle, WA
http://www.bokabokchicken.com
