One order, delivered to our place via GrubHub, made it pretty clear that The Budlong is the real deal. If it can be this good on a delivered basis, that's a very good sign. We tried the Hot, Nashville Hot and X-Hot (in various forms) and they were all delicious and worth ordering again. I liked that the chicken itself was flavorful but not over-brined. Underneath the tasty skin, the chicken actually tasted like chicken. Hallelujah!
I enjoyed the sides we tried, too. Elote was perfectly tender, savory and mildly spicy. Red-skinned Potato salad (named after the NFL team?
) -- not usually my thing -- was tasty and better than most - maybe a bit too much celery for me. The Black Eyed Peas were tasty, too. They were tender without being mushy and I really enjoyed the vinegar. As for the gigantic and polarizing biscuits . . . I really enjoyed them. The texture was quite hard, relative to other biscuits I've had. They actually resembled scones in appearance but the flavor was there right from the very first bite. Really untraditional. In fact, if I'd been served these without knowing what they were, I may not have identified them as biscuits. But again, great flavor, even without the herb butter drizzle they were served with. I actually didn't mind that aspect but I would have love to have tried them with some unflavored butter.
One nit-pick: I liked the chicken component of the chicken sandwich but felt the chicken itself got a bit lost under the garlic aioli and slaw. It was a bit busy but I appreciated that they were going for something bold and distinctive. It just didn't work for me.
I can't wait to check it out in person. I'm not in that part of town very often but maybe after the next Cubs game I attend . . ?
=R=
Same planet, different world