- Oh look who it is.
Andrew!
- How did you find me?
- It is the day.
The day we've all been waiting for.
Fried chicken.
- Fried chicken. - Fried chicken.
- Let's eat that fried chicken.
- Alrighty. - Alrighty.
- Today, okay.
We are in New York City, baby.
Today on worth it, we are going to be trying
three fried chicken spots at three drastically
different price points to find out which
fried chicken is the most worth it at its price.
- Let's go.
- We gotta talk about it.
- My name is Kenneth Woods.
I'm president and CEO of Sylvia's.
I'm a son of Sylvia, as a matter of fact.
- It's an iconic place, this restaurant.
- Yeah, back in the 60's, everyone was
leaving the South and coming to the city.
Sylvia's is home away from home.
Everyone felt comfortable.
The stars, the politicians, the mom and pop.
A few weeks ago we had three birthdays.
Ladies that was all over 90 years old,
and three different parties.
- The great equalizer.
- We do it traditional Southern style.
Just like how my grandma used to make her chicken.
- Is that where the recipe comes from, is a family recipe?
- Yeah. We use a three and a half pound chicken,
trim it good, then season it evenly,
don't just season it and throw it in the fryer.
Massage it like when you clean a
baby with the baby oil on them.
That's how you do the chicken.
- You create a baby with love and
you create a fried chicken with love.
- That's right, you treat the fried chicken with love.
Let it marinate, then drench it in all-purpose flour.
Pat it to knock off the excess, fry it
for 12 minutes and enjoy what you're doing.
- Yeah.
- It's amazing to be the oldest,
the authentic, the original,
all of those little phrases, you know, mean something.
- Alright, well I think its time to try the fried chicken.
- Fried freaking chicken.
- One of the best meats with one of the best preparations.
Welcome to flavor town.
Oh man.
Oh, there's like a extra crunchy little bit right here.
- The skin is a perfect shell.
- It's like a suit of armor for a chicken knight.
- You ready?
- I am ready.
- Oh my gosh, it's so juicy on the back.
- I'm ready.
- To fried chicken.
Mmmm.
- That's (bleep) good.
- Oh I'm lost.
Oh wait no, I'm in fried chicken heaven.
That is like music to my ears.
It's so juicy inside.
It's just melting like butter.
- It's a food that takes a bath
when it gets cooked, it has to be good.
I'm shocked at how simple the preparation,
actually, is to get this product.
- That's when you know you've mastered a craft,
when you can make it look easy.
- It really is seasoned down to the bone.
Maybe the saddest sound at a fried chicken dinner.
(bone clinking on plate)
That was less dramatic than I thought it would be.
- Dramatic or drumatic?
- Did you just make a pun?
- Dra-matic or dru-matic?
- I think Steven just made a really good pun.
- Yeah that was on purpose.
Let's try some of the collard greens.
- That is the perfect thing to eat alongside of this.
Pretty (bleep) good right?
- Just walked out of Sylvia's, which is right there.
We're going to Red Rooster, which is over there.
But, we need to walk off some off this fried chicken.
So, wanna talk a lap around the block?
What did you think about Sylvia's?
- Crispy, simple, juicy.
Can't ask for more than that.
- So now we're going to...
- Wait, wait, wait, do you hear that?
That's the sound of: fried chicken fact.
According to the National Chicken Council,
the average American eats over 90 pounds
of chicken each year.
- I guess that makes sense.
It's gross when you think about it.
Just picturing a 90 pound chicken
that looks like a rottweiler.
- Ew.
- I guess that's like probably what a
small dinosaur would look like.
- Your tummy feeling okay?
- It's ready for more, it's always ready for more.
- Alrighty.
- Did you just try to hold my hand?
- What, no.
You're standing very close to me.
Okay.
- Fried chicken.
- Welcome everybody.
My name is Chef Marcus Samuelsson.
Right now, you're at Red Rooster.
When I thought about Red Rooster,
it was about, "How do I tackle fried chicken?"
Being neighbor with the most iconic
restaurant in Harlem of all time, Sylvia's,
we can talk a lot about what we have it common.
What does it mean to be a
restaurant in a community like Harlem?
For me, it's all about hiring.
We have about 180 employees, 70% from Harlem
and so I could never have dreamt that the
community would take so much ownership of the restaurant.
It's a push and pull.
When we make a mistake, they'll let us know,
when we improve something, they'll let us know.
- What is the name of the dish we're having today?
- Fried Yard Bird.
Yard Bird to me was just like birds running
around in the back, you know,
when you didn't have food, you could go out
into the yard and just cut a chicken.
And it's something that both from my
Ethiopian and my Swedish heritage.
I want a seasoned oil, so I'm flavoring
it with a little bit of rosemary, and garlic.
We have our bird.
A little bit of pickling brine, sugar, salt,
little bit of buttermilk.
Best thing is that the bird can be there overnight.
And then in our flour mix, we have a shake,
but it's the one ingredient that I will
let you know that's in that mix.
- And what is that?
- That is a spice blend from Ethiopia.
Large chilies, not super spiced ginger,
garlic, it has this beautiful taste of Ethiopia.
You want the right amount of flour,
so you get that crunchiness.
I landed on twice fried chicken.
The first fry is really all about cooking it through.
Then you lift it out, let it rest.
Then you just dip it again and fry it
to get really nice and crunchy.
I have a little bit of oil from that
flavored oil that we cooked in,
little bit of honey, and our Rooster sauce.
All of that stuff that I've used, comes back in.
It's really a reflection of poor man's cooking.
If you ever think about the food of the South,
everyone that was working class
ate pretty much the same.
Out of that came certain flavor points.
As the migration moved the population up, the food stayed.
Obviously, it tastes different in New York or
Detroit than it does in Virginia or Kentucky.
The methods stay just as much as jazz came up,
and today we have hip hop because of it.
The DNA is really the foods of the migration.
- So we got the Yard Bird.
- We also got some bourbon on the rocks,
because it's a hot day in Harlem.
- Oh I'm ready now.
Strangely, very sweet.
- Yeah, he said there's a hot honey in that.
Hot honey is what they called me in high school.
- Tell me who called you that.
- No one.
- Dibs on that one.
- Sure, go for it.
Because this one's clearly better.
- Oooh.
- Smells so good.
Oh my god.
- I got it on my nose.
Chicken cheers.
- That is some juicy chicken, holy (bleep).
- That is a sophisticated flavor.
- It's that nice, deep, roasted, slightly
bitter nutty flavor that he was talking about.
- Andrew with the adjectives.
- Adjective Andrew.
- Ooh.
- I can't believe how juicy this meat is.
And the skin is...
- Perfection. - Oh, (bleep).
- I just got some skin in my Bourbon.
- The skin is crispy and it melts in your mouth.
That's like making love
and I don't have any experience in that department.
- Really?
- I don't, but if I'm gonna be honest here,
that's what I imagine it's like.
The chicken and I have become one.
- You know what, I'm not gonna spoil anything for you.
I got it all over my face, I know.
- [Cameraman] You look like the Joker.
It's so good. - It's crazy.
- Can I jump in? - Please.
- I really thought I was gonna get to eat that,
but it's okay.
- Should we go to the cornbread next to soak this up?
- It's grimy, man.
- Grimy in a good way?
- (Chef Marcus) Yeah, word to the bird.
And like that, he's gone.
The structural integrity of this
skin with the coating is unreal.
It's like soft and supple, but strong and mysterious.
- Adjective Andrew, back at it again.
- Adjective Andrew.
Sweet potato yams.
The yams are like dessert mashed potatoes.
So there's one piece of chicken left.
Can I have it?
- Can we order some more?
- I asked Marcus if he had any suggestions for dessert.
- It's so hot.
- Turns out, Make My Cake, makes some great cake.
Thank you.
That may have been...
- It was the best fried chicken I've ever had.
I said it first.
- I couldn't have said it better...
- We went to the quintessential Harlem fried chicken spot.
- Now we're going to: fried chicken fact town.
- Oh, I forgot about that.
- How much chicken do you think the
United States consumes every year?
- A trillion chickens.
- A trillion chickens?
- I'll recalculate a little bit.
- Alright, recalibrate.
- Two billion chickens.
- Not bad, eight billion chickens.
- Eight billion?
- Eight billion chickens.
- So we ate a billion chickens, I was only a billion off.
- No, we eat eight billion chickens.
- So we just went to Sylvia's,
the quintessential fried chicken spot.
- Iconic.
- Red Rooster.
- Game changer.
- Now, we're going downtown.
Fried chicken will be served at a noodle bar.
It's really hot in New York, my brain no good, no more.
- Hi, I'm Dave Chang.
We've met before.
We're at Momofuku Noodle Bar, in the East Village.
- Last time we saw you was in Korea.
- I think you should try to eat the chili pepper.
- Is it good?
- Yeah, it's spicy as (bleep).
- Woooo.
Now, we get to try your food.
Does that make you nervous?
- I'm terrified.
- Why?
- Because I'm competitive, and if we don't win-
- It's not a competition.
- I'm probably the most competitive person.
Basically, we're serving fried chicken
like peking duck with caviar.
I understand how stupid and almost douche-y it sounds.
By no means am I trying to disrespect
fried chicken or caviar.
I think it works tremendously.
The person that's actually cooking is Tony Kim.
He's executive chef of all the Noodle Bars.
Anytime Tony cooks, it's a treat.
We brine the chicken in a buttermilk solution for a day,
the buttermilk helps tenderize it, gives it flavor.
Great fried chicken is about getting fissures as it fries.
Doing this is about creating irregularity in the batter.
We've created a dredge for it of flour, spices.
And then when fry it whole.
We let it rest for at least 30 minutes,
because you don't want it super hot.
Create all the sauces and the garnish.
Scallion crepes, white sauce, chives, and creme fraise.
We're preparing it with what I believe is
the best domestic caviar, by Regalis.
Some of the most beautiful Sturgeon.
We're also gonna pair it with some smoked Trout roe.
The salinity and oceanic brininess
of the caviar is perfect for the white meat.
Present it table side, show it to you,
and then we're gonna bring it back, slice it.
That's actually a trickier process.
You're sort of peeling the skin
and cutting at the same time.
Assemble it like you would with a peking duck.
This is not something you should eat everyday.
If you guys are meeting your friends in New York City,
and you haven't seen them in a few years,
this is the kind of meal that you'd want.
And if you break it down, amongst,
five to six people, it's not that bad.
- As a friend of Worth It, would you do the
honor in dining with us today?
- This is gonna be great.
This is one of my favorite things to eat.
- That looks nice.
- A lot of Chinese New Year ducks eaten this way.
- Is this just like a big chicken and the egg joke?
- Chicken, egg, and caviar.
That's one of the most classic culinary pairings.
This is just a mature egg.
I'm gonna make you one, how about that?
I'm gonna let you do white meat, just to see.
This is creme fraise with scallions.
Again, this is something that's a traditional garnish.
- Oh yeah.
- Sturgeon from Idaho.
- Cheers.
♫ Hello sunshine, hello sky
♫ Hello white clouds floating by
♫ Hello cooling summer breeze
♫ Coming whistling through the trees
♫ Hello sand and hello seas
- Wow, okay, alright.
- I hate how good this is.
Those are the two most awesome textures side by side.
- This is like one of the most complex
things I've eaten, even though it's so simple.
- I'll make you one with the Trout roe.
It's very different.
♫ Hello positivity surrounding everything I see
♫ Hello happy, hello free
♫ Hello you and hello me
- Okay.
- That is (bleep) crazy.
- Going from the really hot, fried crisp
and then having those bubbles pop in your mouth afterward.
It's like going to the fair,
and then the fireworks pop off, all in your mouth.
- It reminds me of a refrigerator raid.
For some reason, I didn't eat all of this awesome food.
We have a scallion pancake, we've got some chicken.
Oh, (bleep) and I got caviar.
- Is it weird to mix the two?
- I've actually never done that.
You're gonna be making history here.
- Pioneer.
Not as good.
- You want in on this real quick, Adam?
- Can I make him one?
(laughing)
- Oh, you're doing something that I like.
The drumstick, coated.
- I actually wanted to dip this in the caviar,
but I thought it would be rude for you guys.
- No, no, no, no, that's not rude at all.
- It's not?
- This is like a fever dream.
- Oh, (bleep).
Okay.
I've never cursed on camera in this show before.
That bite was so good.
- I didn't even talk to you about that.
I wanted to see if someone was going to do what you did,
in eating that fried chicken that way.
- Yeah?
- And you sort of passed the Willy Wonka test.
- Goddamn it.
- It's a tin of paddlefish.
- Woah.
- It's cheaper, but you can get way more of it.
If we're gonna make fried chicken caviar,
lets go all the way.
Just dunk it in and crust the whole thing.
- Where are we?
Woah.
- This is like an ice cream cone with sprinkles on it.
- Cheers.
(laughing)
- I'm sorry, I just can't not laugh at this.
- That's the whole point.
I'm in it to win it, man.
- This is going to ruin me, I think.
You know those weird people that bring
their own salad dressing to a restaurant?
- [David] Yeah.
- I'm gonna start coming to fried chicken restaurants
with my own tin of caviar.
- I love mixing things that are high-low,
or things that aren't supposed to,
traditionally, go together.
When I'm looking at this, I'm inspired by France,
China, the American South.
So, for me it's genuinely not about the shock value at all.
It's about always, number one, that it's delicious.
Number two, respecting the cultures
that you're taking it from.
Yes, this is sort of perverse,
but if you really look at it, it really sort of makes sense.
- Yeah, and at the end of the day,
I don't care what you're putting together,
if it takes good in my mouth, that's all that matters.
(laughing)
- Here you go, sir.
- Thank you.
Oh my god.
- Really get it in there.
Crust it, crust it.
This is like where filming a rap video or something.
- You simultaneously drooled while
you tried to take those last bites.
- Feels like you're doing something wrong, right?
- Alright should I just say my winner?
- You know what, yeah.
- Noodle Bar.
- I predicted you would say Red Rooster.
- I know, I thought I was too.
The single best bite of food today
was the first bite of the Red Rooster Yard Bird,
but for this comparison kind of thing, I pick Noodle Bar.
People routinely spend 150 dollars
or more seeing their favorite artist.
You could very easily make the argument
that going out to a dinner like that
is as powerful a performance, if you will.
- Wow, let me break it down for you
how it should actually go.
Sylvia's is the OG.
She set the tone for fried chicken in America.
But, I thought Red Rooster was gonna be
all of our Worth It winners, because Red Rooster
is my Worth It winner of today.
- As it should be.
I mean it was real (bleep) good.
- It really was the best fried chicken I've ever had.
It was magical.
Adam?
Who was your Worth It winner.
I know what you're gonna say,
you're gonna choose the same one as him.
No, you're not.
Are you serious?
- Adam picks Momofuku Noodle Bar.
Thank you for watching the fried chicken episode.
Worth It, out.
I love a mixture of plates, very pleasing.
That's something I aspire to have in my own home,
but I think it takes a long time.
Maybe one really hard weekend of antiquing
and I could get it together.
- Ugh I need some more bourbon.
- [Steven] Oh yes.