Sherman's Food Adventures: Juke

Juke

This strange.  Really strange.  I swear that I had written and posted about Juke when I visited the place last September!  But when a friend said they couldn't find the post, I had to check myself.  Lo and behold, he was right!  There was no post!  Maybe I thought I did a post because I had IG'd most of the pictures already.  Whatever the case, I considered whether I should go back and to an actual blog entry or not.  Well, since you are reading this, I guess the decision was to check my notes and go from there!

Now we know the place is known for their Fried Chicken, but honestly, you know I wouldn't be satisfied with only that.  So we got a few sides in the Biscuits with schmaltz.  These were flaky and firmly crispy on the outside.  The crust was texturally appealing and a nice contrast to the inside.  The side of schmaltz was of course fatty and creamy while aggressively salted.  We also got the Dirty Fries which were not as dirty as it could've been.  With that being said, the flavours were weird to me.  The onions didn't seem to go and the amount of moisture made it overly creamy instead of messy.

Something I really enjoyed was the Charred Corn on the Cob coated with more schmaltz, lime, chili flakes and green onion.  I thought the corn natural sweetness was activated by the char while the smokiness was apparent.  Each niblet still had a juicy pop that was firm and of course sweet.  The aggressive saucing of the corn was probably not necessary as it was a bit over-the-top.  Probably the most docile dish so far was the Roasted Cauliflower with crispy chickpeas and spiced yogurt.  We found that the cauliflower had the right texture being cooked all-the-way-through while still retaining a certain firmness.  As mentioned flavours were pretty mild though.

Where's the fried chicken???  Wait, we had even more sides including the Cornbread Mac n' Cheese.  Well, my son as pretty happy about this and in reality, it was good.  Loved the firm noodles that were completely enveloped with real gooey cheese.  I would've loved even more creaminess and moisture to the dish, but in reality, it didn't really matter.  Literally, to top it all off, the crunchy corn bread added an appealing texture and aroma.  To the kiddie's delight, we also got the Grilled Mortadella and Cheese as well.  As evidenced in the picture, the sammie was seared up nicely on the flattop, hence creating a crispy crust.  Inside, the combination of meat and cheese made things a bit salty though.

Okay, finally getting to the main event, we got 3 pieces of Fried Chicken and 1/2 slab of Sticky Pork Ribs.  Okay, I'm going to confidently say that the fried chicken was on point.  With juicy meat and a crunchy, well-rendered skin, this was on point for me.  I've heard otherwise, but we liked it.  I didn't even care that the batter was gluten-free.  As for the ribs, they were indeed sticky and sweet, but they lacked BBQ-essence.  The rub exhibited layers of different flavours.  The meat was somewhere in between fall-off-the-bone and being meaty.  We still enjoyed them nonetheless.  The side of slaw was surprisingly spicy with lots of crunch and peanuts.

For dessert, we decided to try Yo Mamma's Donuts filled with jam.  Honestly, we should've just called it a meal and didn't bother.  These were too dense for our liking and really sweet.  Maybe we ate a heavy meal and these were just not something we should've been eating afterwards...  With that being said, the chicken and ribs were pretty good (I guess others have had different experiences).  The sides were a bit hit and miss and nah, skip the donuts.  Just stick with the chicken and mac n' cheese.

The Good:
- Crunchy and rendered skin
- Juicy chicken
- Funky hipster vibe

The Bad:
- A bit pricey
- Sides are hit and miss
- Funky hipster vibe

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