Peachy Picks Hill Country Chicken Sponsored by Physical Advantage
Vaughn Clements, Executive Chef of Hill Country Chicken with the fantastic Texas Tenders
The Best Masseuse in Manhattan
&
Official Masseuse of Whom You Know:
139 East 57th Street Penthouse
212 460 1879
Laurie Towers is a Mover and Shaker:
Try to keep your computer screen clean, everyone!
Peachy Deegan cannot remember the last time she ate fried chicken, ever.
That is because she was not eating the right fried chicken.
Hill Country has another winner in Hill Country Chicken thanks to the fantastic recipe of Mover and Shaker Marc Glosserman's grandmother, Grandma Els, the warm atmosphere, and the superb service. Every single item on this menu (and we tried nearly every notable one!) is executed with the greatest care and attention to detail.
As the weather cools down you need this warm comfort food even more!
Do not let the casual atmosphere fool you for one second: they are very serious about their cuisine at Hill Country Chicken and in a city punctuated by chains that produce inferior chicken items, Hill Country Chicken is clearly in a class by itself.
When we arrived we notices how neat and clean and organized everything is:
The staff is industrious and friendly:
Their listings are current:
And everything you want to eat you'll find in the menu bien sur! (of course for you non-francophiles)
Their chicken is brined piece by piece in house and it's not injected. There are two flavors: Hill Country Classic, which is a take on a southern fried chicken with flavorful seasoning and is very good; and Mama Els' recipes (love how they have the apostrophe in the right spot) which is skinless with a crispy cracker coating and will leave you dying for more. We can't tell you what kind of crackers-it is a secret. The Mama Els's Recipe is the best fried chicken Peachy has had, ever. They have a rare Boylan soda fountain:
This is the most absolutely-to-die for menu non-chicken item, the Cheesy Fried Mashed Potatoes:
Homemade mashed potatoes with double fried french fries and red pepper and cheese of course: this proves irresistible. It was the only item we tried that we ate all of, and probably in less than a minute too. The texture, the flavor, and overall mix of ingredients will leave you in culinary bliss.
You must order this.
The Hill Country Club is a must as well. Smartly half-wrapped so your hands don't get dirty, this is the kind of club Peachy wants to go to! The Texas Tender has invited to its buttered potato roll party tomato, bacon, that superb buttermilk ranch dressing, and avocado mash. You seriously could eat this every day and not get tired of it. This is in the Mama Els style which makes it even better. We hope Madison Square Garden puts this in their Hill Country stand!
The merlot on the menu was quite nice and paired well with everything we tried. GM Andy King was on the ball all night as was Executive Chef Vaughn Clements and Supervisor Persio Nunez. All three were pleasant and personable and added to our experience.
To balance out your diet we suggest on ordering the undressed salad which was fresh and fantastic. The buttermilk ranch dressing was superb!
And by itself, the chicken was just as fresh and flavorful. Eating it alone is like drinking a single malt scotch as opposed to a blend:
Our esteemed panelist adds:
To me, there's nothing like good old Southern comfort food. Thankfully I can get my fix of it right here in NYC! Hill Country Chicken, on the corner of 25th and Broadway is a self proclaimed "fresh, fried chicken joint, " that certainly lives up to its name and more. Their chicken is all natural and hormone-free which is not common for a place that mainly serves fried chicken! Also, every piece is brined in-house and comes in two delicious varieties, Hill Country Classic or Mama Els' Recipe. I was lucky enough to try both recipes. Both were absolutely delicious, but the Hill Country Classic won my vote with its sweet and salty combo seasoning on the skin. The chicken itself was so juicy and flavorful, I couldn't get enough of it!
I was also a huge fan of the Texas Hand Roll, which was a whole wheat wrap with homemade pepper jelly, creamy coleslaw, Texas tenders and ancho-roasted sliced almonds. It was certainly one of the most unique wraps I've ever eaten, but also one of the greatest! The sweet, salty, creamy and spicy combination of it is nothing short of genius. The flavors and textures blended so well together! I can't wait to go back and eat that sandwich again in the future! On the side I tried the homemade cheesy fried mashed potatoes, which was mashed potatoes topped with double fried french fries and cheese. Talk about comfort food! It was so creamy, with a nice bit of crunch to it. This dish paired incredibly well with the fried chicken!
For dessert, I was highly anticipating all of their unique homemade pies which are a hot commodity! I had a sampling of six different mini pies, which all were what Id imagine pie is like in the south. All were so rich with flavor, but my favorite was the German Chocolate Pie, which is one of their holiday specialty pies. I'm usually a fruit pie type of girl, but this chocolate and coconut combination truly won me over. And if I hadn't had enough pie at this point, I topped it all off with two varieties of pie shakes, apple cheddar and double cherry. I'm so glad that I was able to try the pie shakes because they really should not be overlooked!
Another unique concept, combining homemade pie with homemade ice cream and blended it together into a milkshake is something that will keep me coming back to this restaurant. Hill Country Chicken is a little piece of Texas that all of us New Yorkers can not only rely on for great southern comfort food, but also a comfortable, friendly atmosphere and great staff that ensure an amazing experience for all of their patrons!
Peachy Picks Hill Country Chicken!!!
