Willie Mae's Scotch House

ptoho - Yelp, Alma C.

Willie Mae's Scotch House, Lunch, New Orleans
July 27, 2016

P&J:
America's Best Fried Chicken - Three pieces of chicken (wing, thigh, breast) served with your favorite choice of a side 
Sides - fried okra, seasoned green beans and rice, mashed potatoes and gravy
sweet tea (good)*
unsweetened tea (evil)*


Notes:
I've been wanting to come here for a long, long time.  I first heard about Willie Mae's in 2005 when the restaurant was recognized by the James Beard Foundation.  They have since become known as serving "America's Best Fried Chicken".  This is hotly debated no doubt, especially in New Orleans, but eleven years later...here we were.

We arrived early, hoping to beat the crowds - I hear this place is still pretty popular for lunch.  The no-frills restaurant is small, with three separate dining rooms and one server taking care of them all.

We ordered their famous fried chicken and three sides to split.  The fried chicken came to the table blazing hot, crispy, unctuous, and incomparably good.  I was so happy.  The chicken was certainly brined before cooking, resulting in very juicy and flavorful meat.  The thin coating was lacy, crispy, well seasoned and a little spicy, though Patrick would have preferred it spicier.  Even the gristle was tasty - I ate everything short of the bone; my Grandmother Smith would have been proud.  Patrick found the chicken to be on the greasy side, but frankly I expect fried chicken to be a little greasy, and in this case not unpleasantly so.

The sides were hit and miss for us.  The fried okra, Patrick's favorite, was nothing special for me - it seemed a little run-of-the-mill.  On the other hand, Patrick didn't care for the mashed potatoes and gravy, but I was crazy for them.  The potatoes were light in flavor and texture, as if they'd spent extra time in the boiling pot.  These in some way reminded me of the mashed potatoes served at the Smith-Teagarden Thanksgivings in Kansas for so many years, and they were perfect.  The gravy, tasting of beef broth thickened with corn starch, with little bits of onion and bell pepper, hit all the right buttons for me.  (So happy!)  The seasoned green beans and rice were a surprise hit for both of us.  The white rice was plain old converted white rice, and the green beans over top were cooked to death.  But they were cooked to death in some delicious stock, and little bits of potato were cooked with those beans, soaking up that delicious stock.  And then there was the gravy, more of that delicious gravy, smothering it all.  With a few shakes of hot sauce (and a little salt), this became a magical dish.

I would come back here in a heartbeat.  And while this didn't win Patrick over quite as it did me, I think I could get him to join me.

*Patrick's contribution