Omnivore - Leroy’s strange fried chicken

Expensive prices, middlin’ quality

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“First time here?” a man asked me as he walked away from the take-out window at Leroy’s Fried Chicken last night.

“Yes it is,” I said.

“It’s fantastic,” he said.

“It seems expensive to me. I think I prefer Popeyes,” I said.

“Yeah, it’s expensive and you might be right. I love Popeyes, too,” he said. Best Friends Forever.

The new takeout joint, next to La Fonda on Howell Mill Road, is a total puzzler to me. I paid over $13 for a single chicken breast, a biscuit and two sides of collards and mac and cheese. Oh, and a cup of tepid lemonade with barely any ice.

Weirdly, the sides were too big for one person and there’s no option for smaller servings. And I got something of a discount by adding the sides to the “combo special” of one chicken breast with a biscuit and drink for about $8.

Yeah, it’s finely pedigreed chicken. I might not even complain about the prices if the food were better. I’ll have more to say about that in “Grazing” later this week.