Finally, a good review to write! I know I've had a few bad experiences lately but luckily my team outing was at Root and Bone so my streak has been broken. My work team has had this holiday tradition of always having fried chicken for dinner, so this year instead of going to someone's home and ordering chicken, I suggested that we go to Root and Bone. It's a win for me because I don't have that many fried chicken loving friends left in the city and I get to cross this place off my list of places to try, so it was an extra treat for me.
We got there at a totally random time for "dinner" - 3pm, so clearly it was empty when we got there. The place is adorable - very rustic, cozy, and charming - exactly you would expect from a Southern theme restaurant. They used old elementary school chairs, had Victorian plates as the place setting, had white washed walls and of course mason jars as cups. As for the menu, it's also what you would expect from a Southern restaurant: buckets of fried chicken, biscuits, mac and cheese, collard greens, meat loaf, etc. We ordered 2 full fried birds (no waffles), shrimp and grits, biscuits, waffle fries and deviled eggs. This meal was definitely not for the faint of heart. The deviled eggs came out first and they were delicious. Perfectly whipped and seasoned and the egg white seemed to have been flavored/dyed with beet because it was purple. One order comes with 3 pieces, so definitely order at least 2 orders because you will find yourself popping at least 2 in your mouth without realizing it. Next came the waffle fries and as a true fry addict, there's nothing that gets me more than a really crispy and delicious waffle fry. It was lightly sprinkled with herbs and served with some addictive aioli type sauce.
One of my co-workers didn't eat chicken, so she got the shrimp and grits and of course we all had to sneak a bite. It was a huge dish and some of best shrimp and grits I've gotten in the city. There were several large pieces of Gulf shrimp that were really well cooked and tender. It was on a bed of creamy, ham flavored grits - so really a true delicious Southern meal. Next came the biscuits - which sadly I didn't try because I was trying not to eat so many carbs knowing that I would demolish several pieces of chicken. But it looked fluffy, dense and amazing. It was served with roasted chicken jus as a dipping sauce and the biscuit was sprinkled with fresh thyme and sea salt - I could see myself eating the entire serving if left alone with it. Finally, the star attraction: the fried chicken. We got 2 birds, so there was plenty of pieces to go around. They looked and tasted amazing - juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. They are sweet tea brined for an element of sweetness, lemon dusted for a hint of acid and then served with a tabasco honey sauce. The batter wasn't too thick and not too salty - even though I love chicken skin, to me great fried chicken means getting to the juicy center with just a hint of crispy skin on it., which is what I got here. It was an all around heart stopping and delicious meal.
Overall, I'm super happy to finally get to check this place out and even happier that it broke my streak of mediocre and uninspiring meals lately. Although I wouldn't normally think of this as a big group, team outing type of place, it was actually really nice to get there early and have the whole restaurant to ourselves. If you and your stomach and heart can take a meal here, definitely check it out.
Photo Credit: Yelp
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