Strouds fried chicken
 

A few months back, while in KC, my relatives took me to a dumpy old joint called Strouds that looked like it was converted from a house. Despite the exterior, the inside was hospitable. They had the best damn fried chicken I've ever eaten, and serve enough food to make Whitlock uncomfortable. I know the next time I'm in town, I'll desperately be searching for that place.

Has anyone else ever eaten there? Are they famous in town for their chicken, or am I just sheltered?

Isn't that the chain that Trezelle Jenkins owns a couple franchises for?

No. Shutup.

JSP - Strouds is like world famous.

It's a chain? I would have never guessed from the place I was in.

No they're famous for it.

Their Fried Chicken is like crack......

Strouds is fantastic.

So are they really a chain?

And if so, why isn't there one in Des moines?

They aren't.

So is that place in a bad part of town, or did it just look like it because it was night time when I was there?

They actually ship it there at night for cheap storage. During the day it is located at the Plaza.

Strouds is like three minutes from my house.

I swear they fry the chicken in heroin.

ROFLROFLROFL

That explains why I have the shakes after starting this thread.

Responding to the earlier question.... yes, it's in a horrible area of town.

Strouds effing rules. It's not in the best part of town, but it's not in the ghetto or anything. It's like an 80 something year old building, and it shows, though. It's also not the cleanest place. I'm pretty sure they bribe the health department, and I've heard some stories that still haunt me.
That said. It's more than worth it. Go there early though, or you'll wait for hours.

there is a strouds in Wichita

ate there a couple of times

its pretty good, but the wife's is better

Yes the area sucks and the building needs work and the parking sucks but man do they have damn good chicken in there.

When you coming into town next? I'll make sure you get there. Only about 15 mintues from Arrowhead.

Bullshit. You will not find better basements in any houses around than the ones around here.

And we get Strouds.

Sorry. I got Stroud's mixed up with Harold's Chicken Shack. Same difference.

I have eaten at the one in KC quite a few times, the one in Wichita more. I take my parents there quite a bit. I love thier gravy almost as much as the chicken. :drool:

Next time I'll be down is probably the home opener, and I'll be driving down in the morning and back in the evening. Probably won't have time.

If I decide to go to a pre-season game, I might leave early and eat there before heading home. I also still have never had Arthur Bryants, so it's on my list too.

That'd make a pretty good poll...Strauds or Aurthur Bryant's?

There's one north of the river too, IIRC.

That is the one I have been going to, I think. You go right by it coming in on 35 from Des Moines. Does not seem like that bad of area or building to me, but I just go there for the Chicken and Gravy.

The original is at 85th and Troost. Much different, ummmm...culture around there.

Oh, Ok. I get it. We used to have a "Sight and Sound" location at 75 something Troost. Yeah, that neighborhood is very questionable. :shake:

Would you please stop with the BBQ and fried chicken threads. Your killing me. I live in a city where the food of choice is fish taco's. :Lin:

Certainly a unique flavor...

The northland location is near I-35 and Vivion. It's not a bad part of town at all.

Okay...So there IS a drawback to living in San Diego. Somewhere out there, if you really listen, you can hear Dick Vermiel crying for you.

Stroud's chicken is pan fried; that's what makes it good and makes it take so long. I used to be friends with a guy that worked there. It did seem strange to have to park under an old overpass and have a guy with a club escourt you to the front door...

Bah! Eating Straud's anywhere but the original is like listening to the Philharmonic on an 8-track. It's just not the same.

I didn't know that was not the original. It's about as good as it gets though.

I love that white heart attack gravy they have too. :drool:

And the worst Pizza I have ever tried to ingest was purchased in downtown San Diego. :Lin: But the Sea Food makes up for it.

i think i will have to go there again... I went once way back in teh early ninties... loved it... then never went back. Damn Im dumb!

Ya, the Northland makes Raytown look like Leawood.

We go there at least twice a year.

that place owns fried chicken..I got a chicken fried steak once....as big as the plate.... :shake:

Yeah... I was a bit confused. I thought that WAS the original location.

How you doing KcMizzou, hadn't seen you in quite a while?

That explains Bob Dole's initial confusion. Bob Dole only knew about the one near Vivian Road.

Their chicken was the next best thing to Mar-Lon Cafe in Bronaugh, MO. (But Bob Dole doesn't think that one is there any more...)

Funny how when I was a kid, I'd think to myself "Why would anybody buy all this expensive meat when PIE and frozen pizzas are so cheap?"

What are YOU doing up so late? And why the hell did your name change again?! Don't ever move from Tex or I'll never recognize any of your posts... :)

Sorry, but I think Peachtree Buffet has the best fried chicken. Just my opinion.

They are too.

There is a Stroud's in Wichita.

It's just my opinion but, I think Stroud's chicken is overrated. It tastes like plain ol' fried chicken to me without very much flavor at all. It's great if you like bland country cooking. To those of us that like spices that you can taste, it ain't that great.

The one on 85th is the one we always went to. Haven't even been to the one on the north side.
But I gotta disagree with Saggy. I'm no fan of fried chicken. Usually, when the fam has chicken out, it means I'm feasting on mashed potatoes and gravy or cole slaw. But Strouds is great, and a lot of it is the freshness of the chicken and how quick it is from pan to plate.

And for those who are scared of the 85th St. location, give K.T. Fryers in Lenexa a try. The location is pure-D suburban strip mall, but the menu measures up across the board, and the waiters rock.


Oh, and anyone remember the Stoud's afilliated or Stroud's cloned restaurant immediately to the east of Arrowhead? It's been torn down.

Up early (again).

It sucks getting old.

But as much as I like the chicken, THIS is what I'm there for. Had 3 bowls in a sitting on a prior occasion.

http://www.extramsg.com/albums/album...uds5.sized.jpg

WTF! Never been to Arthur Bryants!%(/ And you call yourself a Chiefs fan.:shake:

Yes, I do...our rehearsal dinner was held there. I honestly dont remember anything other than going there.

You mean the "Bob Dole took a dump - Bob Dole drank a beer" schtik isn't a dead give-away?

Their cinnamon rolls/biscuits are the best anywhere I've been.

Yep, their green beans rock.

The chicken is good...

Try the hamburger steak also...excellent!

I would rather eat at Jack Stack, Smokestack, Smokehouse, Gates, or maybe Famous Dave's than Arthur Bryants. They are at the bottom of my barbecue power rankings. I mean, it's good food, but vastly overrated... so many better places in town.

Screw the cook off on that Saturday for the 37F weekend, I'm going to Strouds.

Okay noob dem our fighting words.%(/

Bryants overrated? Jack Stack is defintely up there and Gates sauce is excellent but Famous Daves come on....:harumph:

Rush Limbaugh, who many probably know used to live here and work for the Royals, has said that Strouds in Kansas City has the best shrimp he has ever eaten anywhere. He had some kind of economic theory (provided by an economics guy he knew) about why a restaurant in the center of the country would have better shrimp than that found in coastal cities, but I didn't really catch the nuts and bolts of the theory.

They are all owned by the same people IIRC. Whether the fact that they have a few different locations makes them a chain or not, I won't judge, but they aren't a chain like Popeyes or KFC.

I agree. I'm not a big green bean fan, but Stroud's green beans are the best I've ever tasted.

Send this man a bucket!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...rcusStroud.jpg

Same way Mercedes makes el cheapo cars for their domestic market and sends luxury cars to us.
Seafood is not fungible [ie, there is choice seafood, run of the mill seafood, and puny seafood not worth the effort of cooking], and it doesn't travel well. As opposed to gold which is funglible and travels well, so even if you're somewhere where gold is plentiful, you know it's worth collecting and sending to a place where the scarcity makes it valuable. That dynamic is so reliable that the value of gold is universal, meaning it's even valuable right where the mother lode is located.
But on the coast, people realize that crab is just a term for sea spider. They're so numerous that they run of the mill stock in the plentiful season has been washed up onto shore, decomposed and used for crop fertilizer [where it's more valuable than as a foodstuff]. Seafood used to be poor people's food in colonial times, like potatoes in Ireland before the famine.
But inland, where seafood is rare, you can take the very best specimens send them live overnight, get some foo-foo chef to braise them and plate them with some God awfully complicated reduction, and charge $30+ for the experience.

I proudly took the wife to eat at Strouds this evening, hoping to share a little KC culture with her. We were both disappointed.

Overrated. Vastly.

I'd rather pay for Popeyes chicken 10 times than be given a plate of Stroud's fried chicken.

Everything else was outstanding, but their chicken is bland and sucks. I won't eat that nastiness again.

Shes ok.

Does every thread around here have to be about Eva Longoria's poo see?

Sheesh!

Dayum....All that praise on this thread and then this???

You came up north just for chicken?

:spock:

Phi, it was STROUDS....not S. TROUDS.

The two are easily confused, and you obviously fell for the conterfiet stuff. Sorry about your experience.

No. Went to the hellhole on 83rd.

Nothing really comes to mind for me when I think about great fried chicken in KC...

It's pretty good fried chicken....but it's still just fried chicken.

No wonder. We'll have to plan on going to the one up here.

It rocks.

Thats a good point...its one of those things that can only be so good. Like breakfast.

So the one in the northland gave all their recipes to the shithole on 83rd, except for the batter? I can't believe I dropped $15 on a meal I could have really enjoyed for $5 at Popeyes.

Its on the edge...

Dave

Their catfish is good, but the real draw for me are the side dishes (e.g. awesome green beans and excellent mashed potatoes and gravy).

I guess I shouldn't say that I make better tasting fried chicken...

Then you've never been to Strouds


Dave

It wouldn't be hard to beat this place.

At least you have Rockin Baja lobster.....

Stroud's secret?
They Choke Their Own Chickens!
http://www.stroudsrestaurant.com/