Bonchon Chicken Opens In Fairfield: Epically Delicious Korean Fried Chicken + More

"Bonchon," which means "my hometown" in Korean, has locations in a lot of people's hometowns - around 300 locations from Busan to Bahrain, and now, Fairfield. You may have already eaten at a Bonchon if your home is in New Haven or West Hartford, where they've had locations for a while, but I-95 South was just getting their first taste in the last week or so when I popped my head in the door. Here's a look at what's on the plate at downtown's newest hometown.

I used to be in midtown Manhattan pretty often for work, and one of my absolute favorite places to stop in for happy hour afterward is the exquisitely named Turntable Chicken Jazz, where I first fell for Korean fried chicken. Life moves on, and I haven't been there in forever, but I didn't realize how much I'd missed it until I heard Bonchon was opening. The restaurant is on the Post Road in the same building as the former location of The Chef's Table, and the deep space runs back from the road with tables lit by large windows to a horseshoe shaped bar with 8 taps running a respectable selection of local and local-ish beer.

The menu includes a wide selection of "pan Asian fusion" dishes (yes, I know, but stick with me here) starting with bibimbap, bulgogi, and japchae, and then veers off into Korean tacos, shumai, chicken katsu, et cetera. This was good intel and all, but let's not pretend we're going to to the Korean fried chicken place for anything other than fried chicken. The signature fried chicken lunch special was $10, and "sweet crunch" was a little ambiguous, so I went with a combo of 4 spicy wings and 2 soy garlic drumsticks. I'll find out what the third flavor is another time, because I'll definitely be back.

The chicken comes with a side of either cole slaw or pickled radish. I chose the daikon, and will not be repeating that mistake, because it seemed to be pickled in simple syrup, and was practically candied with bare hints of acid. I ate about four of the cubes and abandoned the rest. Then I bit into the drumstick and realized why this was the chicken which launched a thousand* franchises.

(*kinda)

The drumstick's skin was potato chip crispy, despite a full glaze of soy with just enough garlic to have real presence without the nagging concern your breath might wilt topiary at 100 yards. Places which serve a lot of chicken tend to deal in the type of stock which has seemingly had the chicken bred out of itself, if that makes any sense, but the meat in the drumstick retained good flavor, stayed juicy through the double frying, and remained a focus of the meal, instead of being a mere delivery vehicle for sauce.

The spicy wings had that distinct gochujang red pepper flavor impossible to confuse with Louisiana or Buffalo-style "hot" varieties. The wings were hot enough to provoke the occasional "fwoof" of inhalation to cool the mouth, but not enough to pop beads of sweat. I'd give them a 6/10 on my mouth's personal Scoville scale, riding the middle path between fiery and mild. Eat a few wings in a row and the heat builds, take a sip of beer and it fades off. Choose your own adventure.

I've already chosen to go back, and my instincts tell me so will a lot of you.

Bonchon Chicken, 1565 Post Rd, Fairfield,