The Roost

My quest for the best Fried Chicken Sandwich in the GVRD had brought me to a place that is fairly new.  Taking over the spot on Denman that used to house Centro, The Roost Eatery & Drinkery sports a Southern-inspired menu featuring fried chicken, fried chicken sammies and sides.  They didn't bother to renovate the spot, but for me at least, it has this Bino-esque 80's theme complete in the typical browns and oranges for the era.  As much as I reminisce due to the decor, I was really here for the food.  

So without any delay or more words typed by me, let's head straight to the sandwiches!  We went for both the Basic Bird and the Dirty Bird.   These were essentially the same with a crispy buttermilk breaded thigh, with spices, garlic aioli, lettuce and pickle on a brioche bun.  With the dirty bird, it substituted chipotle aioli and added a spicy glaze.  Naturally, I gravitated towards the spicier dirty bird since it really did have a pleasant kick, even in its medium-hot version.  The bun was soft while keeping everything together.  I found the chicken to be moist and juicy where the batter could've been a bit crispier.

The other featured item on the menu was their Fried Chicken which was buttermilk brined and spiked with southern spices.  We decided to try the Mild and Hot to get a sense of all the heat levels since we already had the medium in the sandwich.  There was a nice mix of white and dark meat with our fried chicken.  Although the white meat wasn't exactly juicy, it was still tender and flavourful.  The mild spice was more on the sweet side with some spices.  It was quite tasty and would satisfy people who can't take heat.  With the drumsticks, the meat was predictably more moist and juicy.  The batter was fairly crispy and well-rendered.  Maybe our heat threshold is higher because we found the hot to be fairly mild even though it had a slight kick.

Looking over the menu, we knew we had to try the P & C Fritters which were peaches & cream corn fritters with peach habenero aioli dip.  These were advertised as crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside.  I would agree that the exterior was indeed crispy, but the middle was a bit too soft, almost seemed underdone (even if it wasn't).  Otherwise, I liked the flavour as it was sweet with more pops of sweetness from the corn.  The dip was the perfect accompaniment where it provided heat and cooling at the same time.

Lastly, another item we had to order was the Mac & Chz Bombs.  These large breaded and fried mac & cheese balls were appealingly cheesy (they didn't skimp with the cheese here) with a perfectly fried crunchy exterior.  I particularly liked the macaroni, which was al dente.  The one thing that would've made these absolutely perfect was a bit more salt.  Overall, we found the food to be good and worth a try if you were in the area.

The Good:

- Focused menu

- Reasonably-priced

- Decent eats

The Bad:

- Could be spicier

- A few tweaks here and there