Wood-fired grilled oysters and fancy fried chicken.
Comfort food. It’ll cure what ails ya. No matter how sophisticated your palate, you should always be able to appreciate a serve of good down-home cookin’.
This sentiment is supported by the very existence Lucy’s Fried Chicken, the newest venue from chef James Holmes. Holmes is the man behind South Austin’s relaxed fine dining spot Olivia, which Bon Appetit named one of the top ten best new restaurants in America in 2009. Stripping back to classic Southern fare, Lucy’s menu is indeed dude food.
You can expect to find appetizers of frogs legs, rocky mountain oysters, gizzards and chicken livers. Make no mistake, I am not an offal girl. You will never spot me chewin’ on a chitlin’. Also on offer are deep fried deviled eggs, though the majority feedback seems to be that they sound better than they taste.
Lucy’s Fried Chicken has a darker coating than you usually see, a dark amber layer of crisp spices dutifully protecting the moist interior. In addition to the signature chicken, Lucy’s also specialises in wood-fire grilled oysters with interesting combinations such as Austin (buffalo sauce & bacon) or Diablo (habanero butter & parmesan) and Texan – with wild boar chorizo, garlic butter and Texas cactus hot sauce.
Sides like Mexican Coke sweet potatoes and grilled red cabbage slaw round out the menu choices, but do be sure to save room for a sweet treat at the end. The s’mores pie is a super sweet concoction of marshmallow, chocolate and graham crackers. I am also hanging to try out their Sweet Tea pie, a variation of the classic buttermilk Chess pie. Freakin yum, right?
