Sherman's Food Adventures: Ezell's Famous Chicken

Ezell's Famous Chicken

It's interesting how we often get sucked into visiting places because a celebrity happens to like it. The fact they are famous doesn't necessarily translate into good taste. After all, food is a very personal thing and just because they like it doesn't mean someone else will like it. Case in point, Guy Fieri seems to like everything he tries on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. However, to me at least, some of the stuff looks plain gross. Is it because he truly likes it or could it be that it would be unbecoming of a Food Network personality to trash someone's food? Have you ever seen Rachel Ray pan something she ate? It's always a "yum-o", not an "ewww". Although, I do give her credit for liking Top Pot Donuts. I personally like them too. Now, when Oprah seems to like something, it turns to pure gold, whether it be books, cars, mittens or food.

So with her recommendations, I eagerly made my way to Ezell's Famous Chicken in Lynnwood while we were on our way to Bellevue. Of course, I already had an inkling of what I was in for since Kim had tried it and surprise surprise... didn't like it (LOL). Well, despite his warnings, I had to see for myself at what all the fuss was about. Not really knowing what to expect, we were hoping to eat-in. No dice. This place is purely takeout with absolutely no seating at all. Great. Fried Chicken, eaten in the car with 2 kids. I think we went through an entire pack of wipes for this one meal. Yes, partially because it's fried chicken and more noticeably, the darn chicken was really greasy. I got half regular and half spicy which included 4 freshly made buns.

The positives were that the chicken was crispy and the spicy batter had plenty of flavour. As for the regular, the batter was bland. On that note, the chicken in both versions were very bland. The white meat was particularly dry. I was gnawing on it and not enjoying it. The dark meat was significantly more moist; but definitely not as moist as Lee's or LA Chicken. Honestly, I was not overly impressed. In fact, you could say I was disappointed. However, the fresh buns were pretty good. A bit sweet, nice and soft, we all enjoyed them. For curiosity purposes, I added a small order of Spicy Fried Chicken Livers. Although we liked the crunchy spicy coating, we didn't like that it was even greasier and overcooked. Luckily we only had a small order. I'm not sure how we could've eaten more than 2 pieces each. Now that we were greasy, the kids greasy, the car greasy, my camera greasy and using up all of our wipes, we felt a bit gross. As for Oprah liking the place, she has her opinion. For me, I was indifferent bordering on not liking it. It wasn't cheap either! At the very least, it proves once again that celebrity endorsements mean nothing at all. Hey, look at how Rosie really loved the Pontiac Aztec...

The Good:
- Big pieces of chicken
- They got fried livers and gizzards (gotta give them props for that!)
- Great buns

The Bad:
- Greasy, bland and overcooked chicken
- Expensive
- No where to sit

4 comments:

KimHo said...

"I told you so?" :)

You bring an odd point. Power and $$$ can buy you expensive things; however, that does not necessarily mean they are *good* things. Probably it is something they like because of a childhood memory or a particular taste he/she has. But, in the end, it is still subjective. I still laugh at a comment somewhere saying that because an actor/actress dined in a fancy restaurant, it ought to be good. Oh, well, you will always have diehard fanboys/fangirls.

Sherman Chan said...

Yah, I really knew what I was getting into already. But, this only confirms what you said. Dunno why it's so popular.

Anonymous said...

Maybe I'm wrong, but didn't Guy Fieri go to Southern Kitchen for fried chicken in Tacoma?

Sherman Chan said...

Hmmm.. I'm not sure. I'll take your word on it.

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