Where Did the Sanity Go?

Those who follow the FUSSYlittleBLOG daily are aware that I am down in Washington D.C. with Young Master Fussy and Little Miss Fussy for the Rally to Restore Sanity.  We had some stunningly delicious pizza in New Jersey.  Given that Mrs. Fussy wasn’t there, it was a real treat to get a pie with onions.

The rally was both delightful and a bit of a disappointment.  I was glad that we went to participate and be counted.  But I wish they had louder speakers, or at least more of them.  Eventually we had to leave since we weren’t really hearing much of what was going on.

It meant more time for museums, monuments and memorials than we might have had otherwise.  But they say something about the best laid plans.  Besides not being able to fully participate in the rally, the other critical part of our D.C. trip also took an unexpected turn.

BonChon Chicken is nuts.

Our original plan was to have BonChon for dinner on Friday.  Chicken of Friday is a tradition for the Fussy family.  So knowing that it takes a significant time to prepare, we called well over an hour in advance from when we would like to pick up the chicken.  We called around five in the afternoon.

The lady on the other end of the phone gave us some rather surprising information:  Your chicken will be ready at ten o’clock. There was no negotiation.  This was just the simple truth of how much food they had to make, and how long it takes them to make their delightful chicken so crisp and moist.

So we had to bail.

But as we bailed, we were at least left with one valuable piece of advice.  On the weekends, one should call at least five hours in advance, and preferably the day before.

Officially, that’s insane.

There is only one of these places locally.  If in fact they are consistently this popular, it is almost financial negligence for the franchise holders not to open up a second store.  Seriously.  Although having learned our lesson on Friday, and being forced to subsist on Peruvian roasted chicken instead of Korean fried chicken, I called in our BonChon order before getting to the mall on Saturday.

This meant that we could actually get BonChon on Saturday night.

It’s a rare occasion indeed when my San Francisco friends are jealous about what I’m eating.  But BonChon chicken is a special place, and it’s available in a surprisingly small percent of the country.

How they make this chicken is a mystery to me.  But no sane person would ever come up with the technique.  It takes a long time to make, and when it’s done, the skin is impossibly crispy and the meat is surprisingly juicy.  Despite the superior skin to meat ratio on the wings, I do actually prefer the drumsticks, which are the bread and butter of BonChon, so to speak.

The only problem of course, was that ADS got me so filled up on fried Cuban snacks, my appetite wasn’t quite what I’ve come to expect.  Although on the other hand, I did a ton of walking and carrying children today, so I’ve earned more than my fill of small fried meaty treats.

Maybe it’s not the most moderate thing to do. But I cannot say no to BonChon.