A Chat with Charles

I paid a visit to Charles of Charles Southern Style Kitchen, otherwise known as the purveyor of the finest fried chicken in town. I'm throwing a party soon, and there won't be time to cook for it, and I'm feeling lazy and decided to bring in some cooking that I could serve with my head held high. There wasn't much information available to figure out costs and sizes for large orders, so I took the subway up to 155th and had my first official meeting with the man.

Charles works hard. Seven days a week, every week of the year except one week off to visit home, which is Charlotte, North Carolina. He believes that his method of frying in soybean oil in huge cast iron pans instead of using a fryer is what sets his chicken apart. Since it's necessary to turn the chicken, the whole piece doesn't sit in the oil and lose its flavor or absorb too much oil. It takes about 20 minutes before the chicken is finished. This doesn't make too much sense to me, but Charles knows better than I.

Above is the buffet portion of Charles's restaurant. About a month ago, some drunk teenagers took a wrong turn at 2:30 a.m. and ended up in the restaurant. Luckily, noone was hurt. It's going to take about another week for the insurance money to go through and for Charles to rebuild and reopen. I hope it happens soon.

*news flash* I just got off the phone with Charles's wife. She seems really nice. But the woman does not like to cook! Amazing. I told her she married the right man.