Two Top Chef Alums Make Good at NY's Root & Bone

Let's get right to the meat of matter: Root & Bone serves New York's best new fried chicken. In fact I'll go even further. This young Alphabet City spot sells some of the most ambitious poultry of the past half-decade.

Here's how it's done: Top Chef alums Jeff McInnis and Janine Booth take a Pennsylvania Amish bird and brine it in sweet tea, onions, and garlic for 24 hours. Then they dredge it in flour, pressure fry it, and sprinkle it with dehydrated lemon powder. The flesh is (assertively) salty yet sweet. The crunch is marked. And thanks to the citrus "dust," it all has a fragrant finish that recalls a gourmet version of the coating on a Haribo Gummi Peach. On the side, there's a bottle Tabasco-spiked honey that starts off spicy and ends with a wave of sugar. It's not just good, it's unmistakably unique. You could close your eyes, taste this dish, and know it didn't come from anywhere else.

Of course, you'll have to wait in line for it. >>>