Jeepers, what is with the New York Times lately? As Bayne and Margasak observed, the Grey Lady recently published a pair of dubious trend pieces based on dusty anecdotal data. What? Black people like rock and roll, you say? And now Koreans like fried chicken? Why then, people, can’t we all just get along?
The piece in today’s dining section states that “the popular cult of crunchy, spicy, perfectly nongreasy chicken — the apotheosis of the Korean style — is a recent development,” but then quotes a Manhattan franchise owner saying said new trend has been going for 20 years. Where’s the evidence? Korean chicken joints have recently opened in New York, New Jersey, and California, something the Times first sniffed back in September with this review of a Koreatown hof, a beer and chicken joint modeled on a German pub, whose ilk is ubiquitous back on the peninsula.
Regardless, Chicagoans need not go coastal to keep up with these developments. Two styles of Korean fried chicken are openly sold at the Hourglass, and Great Sea does a booming business in fried chicken crack.