Mad for Chicken opens in Rockville Centre

I had a southern grandmother, which meant that I grew up believing that an unintelligent person had “one oar in the water,” ugly people could “make a freight train take a dirt road,” and that there were souls in this world mean enough to have “the hates for fried chicken.” I found that last characterization especially troubling. Throughout my childhood, not only did I never meet anyone who did not adore fried chicken — again, the south — I couldn’t even imagine the existence of such a person. (Cholesterol and vegetarianism were in their infancy then. Yes, I’m dating myself.)

For a woman who took it so seriously, my grandmother had a remarkably big tent attitude toward fried chicken itself, enjoying pretty much every version she tried, which is one reason I’m sorry she didn’t live to see the rise of KFC — by which I do not mean the chicken of Col. Harlan Sanders, whose white beard she detested enough to turn the channel whenever he showed up in commercials — but that other great battered invention, Korean Fried Chicken. Its preparation method — cornstarch-dusted, double-fried, lacquered finish — represents the most serious threat yet to buttermilk-and-flour dredging, and with results that are often superior, especially when practiced with a certain amount of wizardry, as is the case at Mad for Chicken.

The arrival of the growing chain’s 18th location and Long Island’s first, in Rockville Centre, is certainly cause for celebration, even if I’m a little miffed that it took so long. After all, MFC was born just a stone’s throw away, in Flushing in 2005, quickly developing a following among connoisseurs of the fried bird, which led to further expansion in Queens, as well as Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Dallas metro area and Columbus, OH. If the company is at last addressing the pleadings of drumstick devotees a few miles east, it’s thanks to franchisees like Joe Froman, who set up shop on Sunrise Hwy.--in the former home of Pipeline Coffee Co.--in September. (A liquor license hasn't come through yet.) And while locals can, as of now, only get KFC by MFC in RVC, in the months ahead, plans are afoot to bring at least two more locations: East Meadow and Plainview.

Living up to its name and then some, Mad for Chicken offers myriad ways to enjoy the bird, and if the rest of the menu doesn’t quite compare to the plain old fried chicken parts, that’s more of a tribute to the latter than a knock on the former. Each wing (prices range from $15.95 for 10 to $41.95 for 30) and drumstick ($11.95 for 5, $34.95 for 15) is a feast for five senses, from the crackle of incisors on skin, to the splashing of sweetness and spice on the tongue, to the juicy and tender chew, and beyond. Both parts are available in just two flavors, soy garlic and spicy soy garlic, and both will likely make a believer out of you.

Good Korean restaurants are few in number on Long Island, especially by comparison to the boroughs out west, and while Mad for Chicken’s take on the cuisine is by no means comprehensive, it does offer competent takes on a few Korean and Korean-ish dishes, among them a bulgogi bowl topped by a fried egg ($12.95), bulgogi mac ’n cheese ($15), japchae ($12), fries topped with a ladle of kimchi ($13) and tteok-bokki ($12).

But it’s the wings and drumsticks that are the stars here. Anyone without the hates for fried chicken is bound to love them.

Mad for Chicken is at 318 Sunrise Hwy. in Rockville Centre, 516-208-6931, madforchicken.com. Opening hours are daily from noon to 9 p.m.

By Scott Vogel

scott.vogel@newsday.com

Newsday writer and restaurant critic Scott Vogel aims for a refreshing, gimlet-eyed take on the Long Island food scene, often while drinking a refreshing gimlet.