Ask the Food Critic: Where Can I Find Korean Fried Chicken?

Hi Lee: Long time reader, first time writer. Any chance there is a good Korean Fried Chicken place in Miami? I hope you have a suggestion.

Thanks and happy eating,
Sarah in South Miami

Sarah--

I called the three Korean places that I know of: Myung Ga Tofu and BBQ, in Weston (954-349-7337); Korean Restaurant at NW 2nd Street in Miami (305-267-0011); Kyung Ju at NE 167th Street (305-947-3838). Folks at the first two said they didn’t serve it, while the owner of Kyung Ju suggested that it was a Chinese dish. What it is, for the uninitiated, is a hugely popular bar food in South Korea, usually downed after work with pickled radish and beer or soju. Traditionally the whole chicken is fried and hacked into bite-size pieces, though larger American birds make this a tricky proposition -- as a result, in the States it often becomes a chicken wing thing. What distinguishes Korean fried chicken from, say, KFC, is the delicate, almost transparently thin crust, a result of double frying. Spicy seasonings get applied after cooking, and sometimes a sweet garlic-soy glaze or a hotter red-pepper sauce is lightly painted on. It’s delicious.

So I suppose the short answer to your question is “no”. But if you enjoy Korean cuisine, you might try one of these fried chicken-less places just the same.

Email your questions to food critic Lee Klein.