The Budlong family, an old Rhode Island family and the namesake of Budlong Farm, were established farmers and picklers on the East Coast, with a large operation in Cranston, Rhode Island. Among the reasons for Chicago's pickle prominence were ample supplies of salt and a robust rail infrastructure. In addition to its dominance in meatpacking and the grain trade, Chicago was a center of American pickle industry in the late 19th century. The Union Stock Yards was the center of American meatpacking, and the Chicago Board of Trade provided financial support for investment in agricultural commodities. In the 19th century, Chicago was a powerhouse of American agriculture. The Budlong pickle legacy has recently been revived as the namesake of a restaurant chain in Chicago called “ The Budlong Hot Chicken”. Founded in the late 1850s, it was sold in 1958 to a company which was later acquired by Dean Foods. The Budlong Pickle Company was an American company based in Chicago that made and marketed pickles from its own cucumbers. Collection of the Chicago Public Library. Budlong, founder of Budlong Pickle Company. Get them to go, because your fingers and lips are going to be turned bright red before you're done.American company Lyman A. But here are your marching orders: Get an order of 3 tenders and a biscuit and prepare for a really happy food coma. There are other dishes on the menu, including an excellent chicken sandwich and a farmhouse salad. But I was completely blown away by their flaky, buttery "Budlong Biscuit," ($3) served with a homemade balsamic berry jam that I ended up eating with a spoon after I'd finished the biscuit. I wasn't impressed with the collards ($4), which claim to be cooked with smoked ham hocks but had very little of that signature porky, juicy flavor of good collards. If you can possibly resist, don't order so much chicken that you skip the sides. The actual chicken pieces are almost as wonderful, and the kitchen in Lincoln Square seems to have overcome the cooking issues that some previous critics noticed at their other location, as the chicken here was juicy, flaky and cooked all the way through on every piece. The slight burn is addictive, and I'm willing to bet you'll find yourself munching away at a bird that is, frankly, too hot to eat comfortably, since waiting for it to cool would involve a level of willpower that I just don't have.įried chicken purists will hate me for saying this, but my favorite dish is the chicken tenders ($11), which create the optimal spicy crust-to-meat ratio. For review purposes (and review purposes only, of course) I ordered just about everything on the menu, but instead of my intended light tastes, I ended up eating almost an entire chicken before I had to finally admit defeat. The joy of this particular style is the combination of hot, savory and sweet, which leaves your mouth burning but craving more at the same time. Guests can choose their heat level, and i've tasted the chicken at the "Classic" and "Hot" levels-I'm saving "Xtra Hot" for a particularly masochistic mood. As a final touch, the chicken is served atop thick white bread and topped with pickle slices.Ī Mural at the back of The Budlong in Lincoln Square. The highlights? After brining and battering, the chicken is fried and then dipped in a spicy/savory paste of goodness that gives it a signature flavor the Budlong folks claim that their spice recipe took over a year to develop. In case you aren't familiar with Nashville Hot Chicken, this primer from Serious Eats will tell you all you need to know. The first sign for the Western Avenue location went up years ago, but some development woes (happily forgotten and not worth recapping now that there are hot chicken tenders within my grasp) slowed down the project. Sadly, the path to this particular location has been a bit tortured. Their location inside Revival Food Hall was my favorite thing in the place, beating out such other Chicago food luminaries as Fat Shallot, Aloha Poke and Brown Bag Seafood. This isn't my first encounter with The Budlong, which specializes in Nashville-style hot chicken. While my first love will likely remain Honey Butter Fried Chicken (followed closely by Big Jones, which I think serves some of the best "fancy sit down" fried chicken in town), my new hometown hero, dangerously located about 4 blocks from my house, is The Budlong, which opened last week on Western Avenue. The fried chicken market is heating up in Chicago.
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