Kyochon Chicken: No going back after you've tried it

chicken bento box...cute, but stick to the sticks (legs)

Although EatingLA loves to eat just about everything, we usually prefer healthyish Asian or European food to categories like fried chicken, hotdogs, hamburgers and doughnuts. But naturally, I make frequent exceptions. So for day three of the staycation, I tried the much-discussed Kyochon Chicken, which is Korean, so it doesn't count as junk food. And besides, the slogan on the wall reads "Healthy food for ecstatic body and soul," so that proves it. Healthy fried chicken. Right. The Koreatown location wasn't too crowded when I got there at lunchtime, and although I did make it through much of the LA Weekly's Best of LA issue before the food arrived, the wait wasn't as long as some people have experienced. The chicken takes 20 minutes or so to be cooked to order, but the wait and the calories are well worth it as this stuff is seriously crispy, juicy, spicy and tangy. It's like if Panda Express' best order of orange chicken ever mated with Roscoe's fried chicken and created a whole new category of habit-inducing twice-fried fowl. It's also a shame, because I never really felt the need to eat fried chicken before, but now I'm going to have to stop by Kyochon whenever I have a few minutes to wait, because once you taste it, you won't stop thinking about it. I tried the spicy variety in a large bento box ($7.50) which comes with two chicken legs, some zesty chicken bulgogi, cabbage doused in ketchup and mayo, fries and rice. Probably overkill, but I'm a sucker for bento boxes. All you really need to do is order three or four legs per person (or wings if you prefer them), take them home, pair with some vegetable side dish, and add beer. Ahh.....
Kyochon Chicken
3833 W. 6th St.
213-739-9292