When I was living in San Mateo California I was blessed to have a great downtown within walking distance where I could get all sorts of food. The area also had a lot of diversity so the food options where plentiful and delicious. Well, my favorite place was a tiny Chicago style diner that had sliders and Italian Beef sandwiches. But that’s not what I want to write about right now. My second favorite place was a specialty fired chicken place that sold Korean fried chicken.
If you haven’t had it, Korean fried chicken is a special kind of fried chicken glazed in a sweet, syrupy and spicy sauce that gives it wonderful flavor and texture. I’ve been looking for that particular flavor and texture ever since I moved up north. Tonight, I think I finally found it.
I had been hearing about Pok Pok wings for a while before I got to try it. Like many places here, getting your foot in the door with customers is hard since there’s so many good options that people are hesitant to try new things when something great and known is right there. Tonight I thought it all came together. I was out dog sitting for a friend. When it was done, I had plenty of time to go to Pok Pok and it was right on the way home.
I got a half order of their wings, a full chicken breast, and a steamed bun with pork. The breast and the pork bun were quite good. But the wings, the wings! As soon as I bit into them I knew I had found the next great fired chicken place. To be fair, Pok Pok is Thai style, not Korean. So the flavor and style is different. But if anything it’s better.
The chicken still has that sticky, sweet crust on the skin. They just do the wings with tips. It makes eating it a real challenge. But it was so good that very soon I had a pile of picked clean bones sitting on the side of my plate. Typically I hate having to deal with bones like that and get tenders but this was more than worth it. I’ll be going back very soon for sure.
