Mad for Chicken (Formerly BonChon)
314 5th Ave., 2nd Fl
(between 31st St & 32nd St)
New York, NY 10001
(212) 221-2222
www.madforchicken.com
This is one of my new favorite places! Not only is the food good, but the atmosphere is really cool! Located in Korea Town, this place is one of NYC’s best kept secrets and I think maybe they prefer to keep it that way. You wont find this place if you dont know about it. Strangely enough, it’s always packed! Word of mouth is a powerful thing.
To get here, you have to go through the lobby of an office building, up a staircase to this blank door, then a big dude slides a window open and asks you “what’s the password?”. The password is BON CHON!
Just kidding. The password dude doesnt exist but thats the only thing missing. The place is so discreet it seems like you would need a password to get in.
Once youre in, its a really cute bar/lounge place with gorgeous wait staff and cool trendy people happily crunching on their Bon Chon Chicken. Bon Chon Chicken is Korean fried chicken…claimed to be twice fried to add to extra crispiness outside and moist juiciness inside! You can get either sweet garlic sauce or spicy hot sauce. I recommend the garlic if you actually want to taste your food. The spicy sauce is so hot it will singe your taste buds right off your tongue.
Prices are pretty reasonable! 14 bucks will provide a generous amount of chicken for 2 people possibly with a little extra chicken left over (but force yourself to eat the extra chicken. It doesnt taste the same if its left over..and its too good to let go to waste). They give you so much that you really dont need any side dishes. That chicken is so good, it almost makes you forget that side dishes even exist.
You can have a choice of wings, drum sticks or a combo of both. I prefer the wings because theyre more petite, and since theyre petite theyre much crispier. The drum sticks are a little too meaty for me.
This is a great place to go with a group of your friends for a fun filled evening with drinks and laughs, or cozy little date. They even have little rooms sectioned off for more intimate gatherings. One thing I will say about the service is make sure you eat before you get there because by the time your food comes, youll be hungry again. They take so long to bring your dinner, you’ll have to eat it for breakfast. With that said, its worth the wait! Just grab some drinks and some appetizers and have a good time! And while you’re at it, check out that weird beer contraption they have. Click here to see video
Aside from soul food, this is some of the best fried chicken you may ever have.
My only issue with this place is the name. “Mad for Chicken” is the stupidest most ghetto name I have ever heard. Maybe its translated, and sounds much better in Korean? I sure hope so. But honestly they need to change it back to Bon Chon. I read somewhere that they changed it because they felt people would have a hard time pronouncing “Bon Chon”. HUH? I know people are dumb..but they’re not THAT DUMB! The new name doesnt do it justice at all. Instead of a trendy bar/lounge, it makes it sound more like some fast food take out joint where the staff wears chicken suits.
