A Wing and Ahmir

Questlove Breaks Down New York’s Fried-Chicken Scene in Six Easy Steps

Man about town.
Man about town. Photo: Jimi Celeste/PatrickMcMullan.com

Roots drummer and budding restaurateur Ahmir Thompson, who’s better known to the world as Questlove, takes to Immaculate Infatuation to cheekily plug his Chelsea Market fried-chicken stand, in the process revealing an ad hoc taxonomy of his picks for the city’s best fried chicken. Onetime rival David Chang gets high marks for his spiced variety at Momofuku, Blue Ribbon and En are mentioned, and Mission Chinese gets a shout, but the highest praise, of course, goes to his own restaurant, about which the musician-polymath declares “nothing can compare to the Hy this bird provides.” Sounds about right, but Quest also mentions Doug E.’s Fresh Chicken & Waffles, which has been closed for a while, and meanwhile, where’s Charles’ Pan-Fried Chicken? [Immaculate Infatuation, Earlier, Related]

Questlove Breaks Down New York’s Fried-Chicken Scene in Six Easy Steps