Asian Flavors Meet Southern Food

Last week, I met a good friend in Park Slope (Brooklyn) for drinks and dinner. My friend, S, is moving to Boston to start graduate school in biochemistry. I am so proud of her and cannot wait to see all of her achievements!

I couldn't let her leave New York without seeing her off, so we had a really wonderful evening filled with delicious drinks, scrumptious food, and lots of laughter! What could be better?

We visited two bars and the drinks were great, but for me, the highlight of the evening was dinner. S took me to an amazing local spot called "Wangs." To quote their website, "Wangs is a casual take out restaurant specializing in fried chicken, combining Southern soul food and east Asian flavor profiles to create a truly unique food experience." I cannot speak highly enough about this place!

Wangs is basically a small kitchen and a picnic table. It's not a restaurant, but more of a take out spot. It's casual and down to earth and unassuming. S suggested that we order a dinner box and some additional sides. It was a brilliant plan.

The dinner box comes with half a chicken, which consists of four pieces of fried chicken, plus two sides. For our sides, we ordered: potato salad, corn bread, mac & cheese, and collard greens. Oh my goodness, everything was absolutely AMAZING. I couldn't stop eating and my taste buds were going crazy!

First off, this chicken was possible the best fried chicken I've ever had. The meat was so succulent and flavorful, whilst the skin (which I know is bad for me) was spiced and super crispy! My mouth is watering right now, just thinking about that chicken.

The sides were equally fantastic. The potato salad was what you would expect, but the other three…wow. The collard greens were so tender and cooked with chinese sausages, which added a really nice salty, yet smoky dimension to the dish. Normally I don't like mac & cheese because I get nauseous after eating if, but this mac & cheese wasn't too heavy, but still cheesy. Also, I really enjoyed the extra crunch from the breadcrumbs. Finally, my favorite side was by far the cornbread. To be fair, I love cornbread in general, but this was particularly delicious. Not too sweet, not too firm, and lots of corn flavor. Yummmm. I could've easily eaten a dozen on these. The cornbread came with a scallion butter, which complemented it nicely.

What an amazing night! I had a blast spending time with S, although it was bittersweet. The drinks were great, the food was mind blowing, but most importantly, the time we spent together was priceless. I will miss S, but I know that she will go on to do great things and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for her!

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