Seattle's fried chicken frenzy shows no sign of slowing down

In the last few weeks, Seattle’s fried chicken selection expanded with three exciting new offerings featuring influences from around the world.

Though the city’s penchant for crispy breaded birds led to the long-time success of Ezell’s and has more recently brought in global chains like Korea’s Bonchon and Jollibee from the Philippines, there’s always room for more fantastic fried chicken in the city.

In the old Golden Beetle space on Market Street, the pop-up that’s been clucking loudly for over a year now finally put down more permanent roots. Most recently seen operating from a food truck in Seabrook after getting its start at White Center’s Good Day Donuts, Cookie’s Country Chicken is setting up in Ballard. Though they’re still working on getting the dining room ready, they’re used to cooking in all sorts of conditions and have set up a soft-opening system for takeout of their impressive fried chicken sandwiches – and sometimes out before dinner time. 

After starting their pop-ups back in August, then going into soft-opening mode through the fall, Phinney Ridge’s The Chicken Supply officially opened its kitchen for people to taste their Filipino-rooted recipes at the end of October.

Opened by one of the chefs from the space’s previous restaurant, Opus Co. sells gluten-free fried chicken by the piece, along with mouthwatering sides that really show off both the Filipino and chef backgrounds of owners: garlic rice, coconut collard greens, cold pancit, beans and rice, and marinated veggies. As of this week, there’s a new addition on the menu: they just got their liquor license.

Finally, this month the long-awaited, much-delayed Korean chicken chain Pelicana opened its doors on Capitol Hill, with its choose-your-own adventure style menu of Korean fried chicken – among sauce options like garlic and cheese, there are three different hot sauces: smoky, chili, and spicy.

The chicken charge shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon, either, with Ezell’s preparing to open its West Seattle location and Shaq’s Big Chicken, already drawing lines inside Climate Pledge Arena, planning to expand to additional locations in the area.