777 44th StreetI just wrote a blog post on gas station chicken earlier today and guess what?
I’m doing it again.
This one’s a little different though. Yes, it’s in a gas station but they actually have a couple other locations. It’s a full blown restaurant, not a glass warming case with chicken next to the cash register.
First, a little set up. I was in Grand Rapids working but I was on my own. I had a couple of tasks to complete and a bit of time in between them. I clocked out for lunch and went looking for some place to grab a bite quickly.
I was driving down 44th Street and I saw a familiar sign. I also needed gas…funny how that keeps happening.
New York Fried Chicken has three Grand Rapids area locations. I’ve eaten at the original location on Division Avenue and MLK Jr Street many times. Our Grand Rapids office actually orders catering from there quite often. The chicken is really good.
The New York Fried Chicken I spotted as I was driving aimlessly is on the corner of 44th Street and Eastern Avenue on the southeast side of Grand Rapids. The restaurant is in the back of the Marathon Station. The restaurant, with it’s own entrance on the 44th Street side of the building, has been several different restaurants over the years. Most recently, it was a burger shop, but before that, it was a chicken and fish joint. I think the owner kind of makes their own parking spot right in front of the door…there’s not a parking spot there and I almost missed it because it was hiding the entrance from the road.
There’s not much to the restaurant. It’s an order counter and a waiting area. I normally would have ordered online but I didn’t know this place was here (or they had online ordering) so I just went in to order.
The menu is huge. It takes up five TV monitors hanging above the chairs used as a waiting area. I knew I wanted chicken, I just didn’t know how much chicken I wanted so I took my time to look over the menu while the cashier was helping the person in front of me.
I put in an order for Combo #25. 12 wings, fries, and a pop. The cost was right at $20 which I paid on my card.
It was going to take about 10-15 minutes to cook the wings so I went and gassed up my car then headed in to the gas station to grab a bottle of water. There is an entrance from the restaurant in to the gas station but you pay for what you’re getting at the respective business. Gas station stuff in the gas station. Chicken stuff in the chicken restaurant.
I needed to get back to my job site so as soon as the food was ready, I grabbed the bag and started to head out the door. I stopped though because there was a table of seasoning and sauces. A lot of places ask you for fry seasoning when you order but they didn’t here. Instead, there are big bottles of seasoning left out. I stayed simple with the Lawry’s seasoning salt for the fries and added some hot sauce to my wings.
I started in on the fries on the way back to the job site. I’ve eaten at New York Fried Chicken before so I knew what I was getting. The fries are pretty simple, bland frozen restaurant fries. I’m glad I noticed the seasoned salt before I walked out of the store because it definitely improved the taste of the fries.
The wings were the kind of chicken I used to keep going back to New York Fried Chicken for. The breaded wings are super crispy and super juicy. The wings come as whole wings so if you were thinking in Buffalo wings terms, it would actually be 24 wing pieces. I only put a drizzle of hot sauce on the wings just to get a little bit of heat. I assumed the chicken would be good and I was right. The drizzle of hot sauce was just enough to fill that Buffalo sauce craving I seem to get all the time now but not enough to mask up the delicious chicken underneath it.
I always loved working holidays in the Grand Rapids office because we would always cater New York Fried Chicken. I would gorge myself once everyone got what they wanted it. The chicken is so crispy and flavor yet it’s super tender and juicy. This location on 44th Street is no different. The place is kind of a dive, but that’s usually where you find the best chicken.