Fried Chicken
Southern-style, Korean, Nashville hot, and Chicago's own mild sauce tradition.
Honey Butter Fried Chicken
Crunchy, juicy, and you put the butter on the bird. The modern Chicago classic.
Harold's Chicken Shack (South Loop)
The South Side chain that gave Chicago mild sauce. This is the easiest location for visitors.
Uncle Remus Saucy Fried Chicken
A West Side institution and the real wings-and-mild experience.
Crisp
Chicago's longtime go-to for Korean fried chicken: shatteringly crunchy wings.
Great Sea Restaurant
An old-school Chinese restaurant everyone visits for the sticky, spicy lollipop wings.
Big Jones
A serious Southern kitchen frying chicken from a historic recipe. Gluten-free, too.
Daisy's Po' Boy and Tavern
A New Orleans-style tavern. A good stop around a Museum of Science and Industry visit.
Parson's Chicken & Fish
One of the city's great summer patios. The fun, social pick.
Fried chicken, Chicago style
Chicago has its own fried chicken tradition: chicken fried hard, dusted with lemon pepper, and drenched in mild sauce. Mild sauce is a tangy-sweet, ketchup-and-barbecue red sauce that's a South and West Side staple. It usually comes over fries, on white bread, in a paper bag that's meant to get a little greasy.
The city also does excellent Southern-style fried chicken, Korean double-fried wings and sticky lollipop wings.
How to order at a chicken shack: pick white or dark meat, say "fried hard" if you want it extra crispy, and ask for "mild sauce and lemon pepper."
Mild sauce is also the classic partner for South Side rib tips and hot links.