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Gourmet free-range chicken fingers? Really? Could you come up with a worse single-item, fast-casual restaurant concept? Sustainable fish sticks, perhaps? Farm-to-­table baba ghannouj? Yet we have a confession. Sticky’s is where we go (under the cover of darkness) when we crave that staple considered by discriminating toddlers to be the ne plus ultra of the kid’s menu. Why? Because the chicken is actually pretty good—you want the “crunchy,” or fried, as opposed to the “naked,” or grilled—and the kitchen has a knack for making the most sinister-sounding chicken-finger varieties, like crushed-pretzels-and-salted-caramel, work. The Buffalo-balsamic-maple, against the odds, is another winner. Our policy, as always, however, is stick to the classics, and in this case, that would be an order of plain old “crunchy” fingers with the Sticky (white barbecue) sauce for dipping. — Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld

‪The Underground Gourmet’s 2012 Cheap List‬

Three “crunchy” chicken fingers, plus slaw, two sauces, and green-bean “fries,” $10.