CONTENDER, battle of the Korean Fried Chicken

Okay so we had been reading about the KOREAN FRIED CHICKEN thursday night special at Meritage for weeks now and yes yes yes it made us drool every time because:

1. This is the year of fried chicken (didn't you know?!)
2. I've had enough fried food to recognize good ones and these sounded soooo promising
3.  HELLO it's KOREAN-style and like duh I am gonna be partial to this.
4. Did I mention it was something FRIED? 

So, last Thursday, my partner in crime J. Gigs and I went to Meritage to try this much hyped Korean Fried Chicken. We spent the days before our dinner date obsessing over how this chicken would compare to all the other fried chicken dishes that have come before it... RAH, Cafe Soho, Memphis Taproom, South Philly Taproom (wouldn't it be great if I had been a good blogger and updated the posts about all those places already?!)... but of course, we knew that it'd likely be very different from anything else we had tasted before. And yes, we suspected it'd be different than the korean fried chicken we were familiar with. 

Off we went. 

:: Meritage ::

address: 500 South 20th St. Philadelphia

what we ate: Korean Fried Chicken special + Spring Vegetable Risotto 

Well, first of all, it's a really good deal. $25 for 5-6 pieces of fried chicken (they are mostly thighs so pretty big portion) + 1 20oz can of sapporo beer + 3 small side dishes. So dinner for 2 at $25 isn't bad at all.

Korean Fried Chicken: sauteed spinach dish + asian slaw + pickled daikon/carrot slices 

The chicken was incredibly juicy and tender, but not greasy AT ALL, which is almost surprising since that's what you expect of fried chicken sometimes. The batter was medium thickness and delicately crunchy which worked really well for chicken pieces that size.

The sauce is billed as "a sweet tangy spicy korean bbq" (I may be paraphrasing heh) and I'd say it is indeed all of those things. If you're familiar with korean sauces, it was like a combination of red pepper paste (gohchujang) and siracha with maybe a few other seasoning things. Flavor-wise, it was very satisfying - lots of flavors and they worked well with the sesame oil tossed spinach, pickled daikon and carrot slices, and sesame oil/vinegar dressed cabbage slaw.

Where some korean fried chicken purists may take issue is that it is very different from the likes of Bon Chon Chicken, or what you can find in the motherland. Well, what I'd say to that is DUH, it's not supposed to be an exact replication... It's an interpretation and it was tasty.

And btw why does fried food and beer go so well? The pairing of the complimentary sapporo is genius.

Spring Vegetable Risotto: risotto + zucchini + squash + corn + mushrooms  

The fried chicken special is meant to be a dish for 2 people and that should have been enough. But, we are biggies and foodies and like to try a lot of things, so we couldn't stop ourselves from ordering the Spring Veggie Risotto that was another one of the specials for the evening. 

MY GOD was it good. I actually enjoyed the risotto even more than the chicken. It had the freshest veggies - mushrooms, zucchini, squash, and corn - and it was all cooked so perfectly. The risotto had all the  crunchiness, tender sweetness, savoryness (I can make up words, let it go) that I would want spring risotto to have.

As for decor, I liked meritage a lot. It is very comfortable and home-y, like your friend's parents invited you over for dinner. The service is great as well.

NEED to go back for their wednesday night Korean Taco special soon....

Oh, and as promised, receipt of the total cost!