Fried Chicken Friday at Fuel

From Fuel

Fuel is turning Fridays into a special occasion by offering their interpretation of the Southern style fried chicken. They are having this lunch special all summer long...so just go. Now.

They first marinade the chicken in buttermilk - then they place it into their sous-vide set up to tenderize prior to flash frying it. This method results in a tender chicken that is flavourful and just greasy enough to taste authentically southern. Having experienced other meats that have been done sous-vide, I had actually expected the chicken to be much more tender. The meat still had a good chew and didn't have that cut with a butter knife almost livery texture that often results post-sous-vide.

The chicken was served with a gravy (did I taste a hint of white wine?), "coleslaw" and chive biscuits. It was well worth the $18 I paid. For $18 you can get and entire bucket of KFC....but oh well.

I also had the Foie Gras Torchon (an object of controversy - as anti-Foie protesters had been picketing Fuel and neighbouring Gastropod for weeks prior to this meal). It was done to perfection - well seared on the outside and rare on the inside. It was garnished with sauteed rhubarb, croutons and what seemed to be cubes of proseco gelatin(?).

My companions had a slew of other dishes - many of which I had stolen a sampling or two. The pork schnitzel was a hit - the breading had excellent crunch and the pork was for tender. The scallops, served on a vegetable puree, were also a hit - one was seared and the other was tartare. The salmon was excellent.

Fuel kept delivering right into the dessert course. I had the Tahititan Vanilla Brule which I paired with a Batasiolo Moscato d'Asti. They paired very well together owing to the shared citrus notes. The Dulce de Leche pound cake was amazing - with the tart rhubarb contrasting well with the sweet caramel dulce. The Manjari chocolate mousse was the most elaborate of the bunch - darkly sweet and well presented with a confiture and pistachio brown butter ice cream. I didn't have a taste of the rice pudding - which was really more of a croquette. My colleague assured me it was delicious.