Brownies Chicken & Seafood

Brownies Chicken - now there is a name that hasn't been talked about in some time.  There used to be several locations in the GVRD back in the day, but one-by-one they all closed down.  It kinda mirrored what happened to Lee's Chicken and to a much smaller degree Juicy Chicken.  Heck, we even lost our only Popeye's in Coquitlam too (new one in PoCo soon!).  So yes, we have been left with Church's and KFC as the dominant fried chicken spots in town.  Of course we have LA Chicken and the newish Hi-5, but there is actually a Brownies Chicken out in Maple Ridge!  Run by an original franchise owner, they have updated the recipe while incorporating Rossdown chicken, Cavendish fries and Oceanwise fish onto the menu.

Amy, Diana and I ventured out to the Ridge to see how Brownies stacks up to the rest of the fried chicken competition in the Lower Mainland.  It was a given we would get the 6 Pack consisting of mixed chicken, medium fries and choice of medium salad or gravy (we chose the gravy).  Although more pricey than the aforementioned places, there was more than enough food for the price.  Large in size, the pieces of chicken sported rendered skin and a crunchy well-seasoned exterior batter.  I found the breast meat dry, but the dark meat was tender and moist.  If I had to compare, the chicken was similar to Lee's which is a cross between KFC and Church's.  On the side, the medium Fries was massive being crispy and spiked with Cajun spice.  I found the gravy to be thick and mild in flavour.

Just for research purposes, we also got the 1-Piece Cod & Onion Rings (we subbed it because we already had fries with the chicken).  Compared to the chicken, this was rather pedestrian.  To be fair, the fish was actually quite good being firm and flaky, but it wasn't anything memorable.  That was definitely the case with the batter as it didn't differentiate itself from frozen fried fish.  As for the onion rings, they were pretty good with a crunchy batter and tender onion.  I personally enjoy the breaded type more, but this was still decent. Lastly, we got an order of the Cajun Popcorn Shrimp which was pretty typical featuring a seasoned crunchy batter.  The shrimp was buttery and had a cold-water snap.  Again, not bad, but not something I would order again.  If I had to sum up everything, I would use the White Spot analogy.  Their burgers aren't the best in town, but it is a childhood memory and is comforting.  Same could be said about Brownies. 

The Good:
- Large pieces of generally good fried chicken
- Crispy starch-coated Cavendish fries
- Nice people

The Bad:
- Rest of the menu is average