When you’re on a mission to find the best fried chicken in America, you better make at least one stop in Alabama.
Billed as “the source for people who care about dining and drinking in the nation’s most important food cities, Eater (published by Vox) sent “American experts in fried chicken” to find the best of the best, reassuring everyone “You can find good fried chicken anywhere in America.”
In their piece, called “The Best Fried Chicken in America,” the writers created a list within a list focused on what the South has to offer — aka what we certainly consider the best fried chicken in America.
The group included places like The Chicken Hut in Durham, Chik’n & Mi in Louisville, Willie Mae’s Scotch House in New Orleans, and one familiar favorite down in Alabama: Eugene’s Hot Chicken in Birmingham.
READ: Meet the chef who’s making hot chicken cool in Alabama
“No Sunday in Birmingham is complete without Eugene’s, where eaters gather for platters of fried chicken served at four levels of heat: mild, hot, hot damn, and stupid hot,” writes Eater’s Maddy Sweitzer-Lamme. “The kitchen fries a slightly sweet, very spicy, cayenne-forward blend of spices to achieve that quintessential Nashville hot chicken style, then drizzles the oil over your choice of tenders, wings, or pieces.”
She notes an order of “stupid hot is almost caked with oil, yet somehow dodges the heavy grease that plagues hot chicken.” She also said “the optimal heat-to-flavor ratio” is “a dark meat quarter-bird seasoned to hot damn with collards and fried pickled okra.”
Read the entire Eater story.
Founded and owned by Zebbie Carny, the restaurant caught wind of their inclusion on the list and posted a reaction on Facebook. “Oh wait! What??? Eugene’s Hot Chicken is named one of the top Fried Chicken places in the South by [Eater]?” they wrote. “Oh yeah we are!”
With locations at 2268 9th Avenue North in Birmingham and at 3232 Galleria Circle (Suite 101) in Hoover), Eugene’s has become a hot-spot, to say the least. Carny first launched Eugene’s as a food truck before he put it up as collateral for a loan, and in late March 2017, opened his first Eugene’s Hot Chicken restaurant in Birmingham’s Uptown entertainment district.
With a larger kitchen, he expanded the menu to include catfish, collard greens, deviled eggs and cornbread, along with several other sandwiches and sides.