If there’s one thing downtown Concord has always sorely lacked, it’s a fried chicken place.
Sure, there’s a KFC down the street, but that’s not the same. There’s nothing better than a bucket of crispy fried chicken to carry down Main Street, and now you can finally do that thanks to WOW Fried Chicken & Subs.
This place opened on Depot Street about three weeks ago, and we had to give it a try.
The menu is part traditional, part unpredictable. Apart from fried chicken, French fries, coleslaw, buffalo wings and sandwiches, you’ll find Middle Eastern dishes like stuffed grape leaves, beef shawarma, falafel and Jamaican beef patties.
Since this was our first time, we decided to stay in familiar territory and go with a fried chicken option. We got a combo meal that came with two pieces of chicken, some fries and two biscuits (the menu says you’re only supposed to get one biscuit, so we might have gotten away with something here).
First impressions were that everything looked very good, especially the chicken. It had a reddish, orangey tint to it that made it look spicy, which made this Food Snob pretty excited.
The first bite we took was of the drumstick. Surprisingly, it wasn’t all that spicy. Seasoned, sure, but this chicken won’t burn your mouth.
Spicy it was not, but crispy it definitely was. The skin – obviously the best part of any fried chicken – was light and crunchy, a rare combination. The chicken isn’t absolutely slathered in batter, so this stuff won’t weigh you down the way chain-store fried chicken will.
The meat was very juicy and tender – it’s not all skin and batter. There’s a perfect amount of moisture to it – not so much that it runs all over when you take a bite, but not dry by any means.
The chicken breast was as good as the drumstick, and had a good amount of meat on it. Sometimes you get mostly bone on pieces like this, but ours was plenty meaty.
The fries were, well, fries. Not bad by any stretch, but nothing absolutely remarkable about them – we ate them all, in case you’re wondering.
The biscuits were actually pretty interesting. After taking the first bite, there was a definite sweet taste, but it was hard to define. Not like a poundcake or angel food, but more like vanilla.
We don’t know what they put in these biscuits, but they’re not like any we’ve tasted before, and we mean that in a very good way. These were tasty enough that we didn’t even put any butter on them.
Before we realized it, we had eaten everything and it was time to get back to the office. Perhaps next time we’ll have to go for a three- or four-piece meal, or try something else entirely.
There are some other juicy details worth mentioning about WOW that don’t have to do with food. For starters, this place delivers – call 856-8036. They can also cater parties or whip up special orders. And, on top of it all, they’re open late – real late – like until 3 a.m. on weekend nights and until 1 a.m. on weeknights.
Take a walk over to 7 Depot St. and give it a try.
