The Dog Whisperer, that decadent and wonderful temptress, sent me an article from the food section of SF Gate, the website for the San Francisco Chronicle. As I am still hankering for some deep fried, salty, crunchy, sweet ass poultry, she must have known I'd appreciate the Bay Area renaissance for this classic, sometimes under appreciated taste. Here's an excerpt from the article:

Raise your hand if your New Year's resolution is to eat healthy. You might want to stop reading this now, because a diet won't be helped by the latest trend on Bay Area menus. Fried chicken.

That old-time American favorite is grabbing the hearts of restaurant chefs, from those manning the stoves at the Mission District's Maverick, which sports an American comfort food menu, to South of Market's Town Hall, with its Southern-tinged food. "The weird thing about chicken at Town Hall is that I couldn't sell it before," says chef-partner Mitchell Rosenthal. "Then I put this fried chicken on the menu, and now I sell upwards of 35 orders a night."

[And this bit, which set this old chicken heart aflutter]

It's not just at the hot-ticket restaurants where fried chicken is growing in popularity. Lines keep getting longer at Oakland soul food establishments like Southern Cafe, Home of Chicken and Waffles, and Nellie's; and Lil' Biscuit, which opened in San Mateo last June. It's hard to trace the exact origin of fried chicken, but many believe that it was brought to the American South by Scottish immigrants, who have a history of frying their birds, unlike their English neighbors, who boiled their meat. African slaves brought into the houses as cooks introduced new spices and techniques, and the food just took off -- to Buffalo, in the form of wings slathered in sauce; to Harlem, where fried chicken tops thin waffles; to New Orleans, where it dons a spicier crust; or to mid-Atlantic Maryland, where it assumes a light dusting of flour.

[Excuse me, but I may have just had an orgasm. Whew. Let's continue]

At Home of Chicken and Waffles, the maple syrup-drizzled waffles underneath result in a balance of sweet, salty and crisp.

[Note to Self: Visit to this establishment on next Bay Area visit in three weeks. Hollaback Girl and Dog Whisperer will have to come to ensure I do not reenact a Meg Ryan at table. What do you say, girls?]