America, September 23, 2002
Chicken Shack Lunch
Tempt your tummy with a Chicken Shack lunch
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Back when I first started at this Internet job, I didn't have a car, so I would take the Metro to work. Each morning, as I walked from the Braddock Road Metro station I would be enticed by the best smells of home cooking since I left my Mom's kitchen. The smells of fish and chicken being deep fat fried would hit me at right about the Wythe & South US1 intersection, erasing my mind and exciting my stomach. For two blocks, I would salivate with desire, but it wasn't until this spring that I put the Blue & White on my lunch schedule. The Blue and White is what I refer to as a true Southern Chicken Shack. There isn't any seating, decor, or even space to wait. The Blue & White is pure and simple damn good southern eats. Straight to your heart & kill you super saturated fats cooking that makes me twitch just thinking about it. First there is the fried chicken dinner. Your choice of a whole leg (with thigh) or breast, deep fat fried, with the skin on of course, that gives it a super crispy outside and a juicy greasy inside. Then there are two sides that you get with the dinner from a choice of four: corn, green beans, mashed potatoes with thick gravy, or my favorite: collard greens. If you're not so hungry, you can get the classic chicken leg sandwich, which is a chicken leg (with thigh) between two pieces of white bread. Both versions can come with salt, pepper, and hot sauce, but don't even think about asking for something fluffy like Grey Poupon. Here at the Chicken Shack, the customers know good food & don't need fancy condiments to enjoy real cooking. They drive from all over Northern Virginia, sometimes forming a traffic jam on US1 as their trucks vie for a spot to park. They don't pay with an American Express card and they sure don't wonder which wine will best compliment the meal. They are 'real men' and want real food, and most days there is a real line of them waiting their turn. I slide right in when I go for my weekly fix, ordering my favorite combo of chicken leg dinner with mashed potatoes & gravy, collard greens, salt, pepper, and hot sauce. I grab an RC Cola, pay my $4.50 & head to Founders Park, right on the Potomac River in Old Town Alexandria to enjoy the feast that is a Chicken Shack lunch. Mmmm! Life is good!
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2 Comments
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Dear Wayan,
I just found your site a couple of minutes ago. read about driving in Moscow and fried chickenbreasts on the US1. Great read!
I particularly relate to the Blue & White story: I live in The Hague, Holland, and whenever I've been abroad (or just away from the city for a week or so) one of the very first things I do after returning is go to my favorite fish-shack and get this typical Dutch snack: a raw herring.
Seems only Dutchmen and Belgians know about this delicasy, I think.
My love for this even went so far that I put pictures on the internet of this fish-shack, so that everywhere I go I can always (virtual) visit it!
After that I put more photo's of The Hague on the page and next thing I know I had a whole site of photographs of The Hague. And more...
Well, just wanted to say hello, congratulate you with your great looking site, and I'll explore some more on this Belly Button-site now.
Greetings from a sunny (at least in the daytime) but cold The Hague,
Mark Kusters.
DIET AND HEALTH, WHAT REALLY KILLS YOU
LATEST INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH ON YOUR DIET AND HEALTH
For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting medical studies.
1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
4. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
6. The Mongolians don't pray much, drink a lot of vodka, eat lots of fat mutton, don't eat vegetables much, sing and dance and drink fermented horse milk and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.*
7. The Tibetans pray a lot, don't drink vodka, they eat lots of vegetables, garlic, onions, tomatoes, and don't drink fermented horse milk and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
8. Americans pray, go to church, drink diet cokes, eat special diets, don't really go for Vodka, dislike fermented horse milk, jog and exercise, have the most expensive doctors and health care in the world and die by the millions of heart attacks.
CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Being American is apparently what kills you.