My Meal Cost: $7.06. Health Rating A. Yelp 3 stars
First things first. A search for restaurants through Google Maps shows a Subway store in the Pomona Valley Medical Center. Since there is no signage on Garey and it is inside the hospital proper I decided that it didn't qualify for this blog. However, it is there so . . .
The gentleman at the next table must have come from the hospital as he sported a bandage wrap around his elbow as if he had had blood drawn.
Golden Wok is one of those places close to the neighborhood that we've gone to often. The lovely Mrs. C always refers to it as "the donut shop" because prior to her retirement it was the place she would drive-thru for a croissant or pastry on her way to work when she was too late to make breakfast. I, on the other hand would stop by there when I had a craving for Chinese fast food so I think I've had all the dishes on the ubiquitous steam table with the combo of fried rice and chow mien along with some veggies or beef broccoli and either orange chicken, teriyaki chicken, mushroom chicken, etc. But in all the times I've been going there I've never availed myself of the burgers, specialty coffee drinks, bagel or croissant sandwiches, or Louisiana Fried Chicken. Louisiana Famous Fried Chicken is a licensing deal which uses the same recipe in independently owned sites nation-wide.
The location is in an older donut shop with a long counter, display cases, steam table, a condiments counter and a bunch of small tables and booths for dining in. They also sell lottery tickets and have the current payouts posted in neon in their windows. A real everything all-rolled-up in one kind of place AND it has a 24-hour drive-thru window for those late night, early morning cravings.
For this post I decided to go ahead and try the Louisiana Fried Chicken. I got a 2-piece meal, which would be a wing and thigh, but substituted a breast for an additional 99 cents. This came with a small drink and fries. I asked to upgrade my drink to a medium and the woman behind the counter did so and didn't charge me extra (very nice).
The food was ready in about 10 minutes. The chicken had been sitting in a warming oven under heat lamps, but they had to make the fries so it took a little bit. I was asked if I wanted fried rice or fries (I chose fries because I couldn't quite visualize fried rice with a southern style chicken), hot sauce and/or ketchup. Since I don't like ketchup on my fries I opted for just the hot sauce. This was a Louisiana style vinegary type sauce, very thin and very vinegary with a bit of punch. Presentation, as you can tell from the photo left a bit to be desired. Once I took the photo I needed to move the fries to the side and the biscuit as well.
I'm a fan of Popeye's spicy chicken and wondered how this would compare. The spice on the chicken was not as good as that on the Popeye's. I note that while Louisiana Chicken has stores in Texas, they don't actually have any in Louisiana and from a trip to New Orleans I know that Popeye's are all over the place there. I see why.
The wing was good. The breading was crisp and there was enough meat on the bones to make it acceptable. However the breast appeared to have been under the heat lamps too long. What appeared to be a nicely browned, crunchy breading/skin, turned out to be somewhat damp (from the chicken juices sitting too long?) and the meat was not nearly as juicy as Donahoo's, nor was it as fresh. Same is true in comparing to Popeye's (there's one on Indian Hill near American, just south of the 10 freeway) which has really good New Orleans style side dishes (including red beans and rice, mac & cheese, and jambalaya).
I think that the next time I go there I'll probably revert to the Chinese fast food or a donut and if I want chicken go to Donahoo's or Popeye's.
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