Profile

Ever since the first Bon Chon opened in Manhattan, Asian-style fried chicken has become a bit of a competition in New York. There’s Mono + Mono in the East Village, with its superb fried fowl and  barn-wood interior, and closer to K-Town lies Kyochon, another Korean import. The two-story space is decked in somebody’s best imagining of the future, with a shiny red, black, and white color scheme and blasting projector TVs. Order grub to go at the downstairs cash register or proceed up a curving staircase to claim a table. Chicken options can be a little confusing—there are hot-and-sweet or soy-ginger treatments, prepared “Kyochon-style” (fried), plus honey wings and plain, fried wings. While none quite equals Bon Chon’s revelatory crispy exterior and moist interior, a few stood out as better than the rest: tempura-puffy honey wings with their sweet glaze, and blazing-spicy hot-and-sweet Kyochon wings. (The latter’s appeal only increased after waitstaff delivered an anxious warning that they were “really spicy”—finally!) A side of pickled vegetables is a nice foil to a fowl-centric feast. — Jenny Miller

Related Stories

Featured In

• Korean Fried Chicken Takes Wing (7/30/07)