Well, duh, guess which cuisine won out?
The girls noticed that the beak formed the "C" in their logo for "Crispy" and "Chicken"! I liked how "and seafood" is in small letters (like it was an afterthought!)!
This was the coupon we meant to use last month but we ended up going to San Diego Desserts instead. I'll be honest with you - we didn't want to eat at this place at night! But daytime? No problem...
The window's lettering proclaimed, "Fried Gizzards $4.15"! One lady next to us had that and she was really enjoying her food! You couldn't tell they were gizzards - it looked like popcorn chicken or something, but man, she liked those gizzards doused with lots of hot sauce! I'll have to try that next time. The last time I had gizzards was at Wa Dining Okan back in 2010.
A vibrantly painted utility box in their parking lot.
There was a steady stream of customers the whole time we were there. Mixed clientele too (black, Asian, white, Latino). The dude working the counter was Asian and he was very chill.
No Krabby patties?
Since I had the coupon, I got two 3-piece chicken combo dinners for the girls (comes with two sides). I figured they could take home their leftovers. Their combos were $4.39 each (for dark meat; you could choose between white or dark or mixed), but one was free, so their meal was about $2.20 (rounded up, I suck at math all right!)!!! My combo was $7.19.
KD's daughter's 3 piece combo with two sides (french fries and fried okra). According to KDD, her grandmother makes great soul food and she loves HER version of fried okra. I think she wanted to "compare" this version to GM's.
TC's 3 piece combo with 2 sides (coleslaw and mashed potatoes with gravy). The cole slaw was packed in that cup. It wasn't fried like almost everything on their menu, ha ha. The mash potatoes were instant, but she didn't care about that! The girls' chicken parts were the same - one drumstick, one thigh, and one back. I had a tiny piece of the fried skin and man, was that good! I'll have to try their chicken next time, but for this first visit, I felt compelled to get their seafood...
My fried catfish combo with two sides (corn and fried okra) plus an extra cornbread. The fish fillets had a great seasoned cornmeal batter. The pieces were thin but large. Very moist and tasty catfish (but not as good as my friend HotFudge's!). The overboiled and waterlogged corn was wrapped in a paper bag. It was way too soft for me to enjoy. The fried okra, on the other hand, made up for the bland corn.
The catfish fillet with hot sauce...
Since Mary raved about their cornbread (link to that post at the end), I just had to get a piece on the side (.75); I found it to be very moist, fluffy, and delicious!
I also liked their fried okra! Not slimy at all! The breading was crisp and the okra was firm. I'd like to think this wasn't from a frozen bag...but WTH, it probably was!
Looks like they have a quick turnaround too, with all the folks that kept coming in and picking up their orders. Even the mail carriers were here during their lunch break. Until we come here again, which I hope is very soon!
Who else ate at Crispy Fried Chicken and Seafood?
Of course, the well traveled Cathy of Mmm-Yoso (this post is from 2006!)...
Another old post by a now defunct blog, SD Eats from 2007! You will notice that yours truly left a comment giving the blogger suggestions about soul food places (since he asked in his post) and there was no response to my comment. Rude, don't ya think? That is one of my pet peeves, when you take the time to comment on someone's post and there is no acknowledgement. Eh, I'd forgotten I'd even commented on this until I saw it again. BTW, several of the places I recommended no longer exist, Fix Me a Plate, Batter Up, and now sadly, Huffman's BBQ (as of February 2012).
Darwin of Eat! Darwin! Eat! also went here along with Mary of This Tasty Life, as well as a recent article in the SD Reader (which I didn't even see until I googled it)...
Crispy Fried Chicken and Seafood
4919 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA
(619) 582-3938
I'm glad to say that we went here! Turns out that fried chicken is one of KDD's and TC's favorite foods. It was the hands down winner of all the choices I gave them. Now excuse me while I kickbox these calories away!
11 comments:
Nice spread CC! Looks like they really cleaned the place up. I haven't been back in years. At least since they updated their signage. I remember having the fried okra too and enjoyed it. I never had a good one at Church's, always dry from sitting under that heat lamp!
I've been finding really good okra once a week for the past three weeks. Need to come back here and do another post. Love that the only non-fried menu items are the slaw and cornbread.
Hi Dennis - The girls loved this place! What was the old signage? Did it have that awesome chicken? :)
hi Cathy - the other non-fried stuff is the mashed potatoes and the corn on the cob. but yeah, practically everything is fried here. this is not the kind of food i could eat everyday though!
Hi CC - Mmm, I still love their cornbread. I get the fried shrimp a lot and Jake really likes the popcorn chicken (made with white meat chicken). The sides here aren't my favorite, but the chicken & shrimp are great. They started having specials not too long ago - sometimes they have an orange chicken rice bowl!
hi mary - yeah, i'm more for the main course than for the sides. i want to try their fried oysters next time. i saw that they also serve shrimp fried rice (it was painted on their window i think). i wonder if that's because the people who work there (possibly the owners?) are asian?
Yeah, it's funny to me they have a few fried rice dishes... though I've never tried them. I'm sure it's cause their Asian haha. Must try sometime!
I think so - they have some Asian stuff to attract the customers! i never get fried rice when i eat out though since i can make it better myself.
This place looks so Southern hehe, especially the fried okra. Sounds like I need to give this a visit!
hi minx- it seems that most Southern food is fried! i still have to try their chicken, but i can definitely vouch for their catfish!
I do want to try this place since I'm a sucker for fried chicken and cornbread. The fish looks awesome. Now it's just a matter of dragging my lazy, sorry butt down there...
imagine if we did a soul food crawl! this would be one of the stops!!!
i will be glad to accompany your "lazy sorry butt" if you ever want to go here!
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