UFC – Unidentified Flying Chicken

I first heard about UFC many years ago on Avenue Food, which mentioned it as one of the first – if not the first – Korean Fried Chicken place in New York.  I wanted to go back then, but the area just isn’t where I pop by for a quick bite… when I go there, it’s because I planned to, not just on a whim.  But then, back in August, Groupon (referral URL) released this deal: $5 for $10 of food at UFC.  Hey, it’s half off.  Why not?  Of course, the Groupon was purchased, I promptly forgot all about it and was only reminded recently that it would be expiring soon.  Gotta get on that! 

Located only a few blocks from a subway station that boasts five trains (one of the larger stations in Queens, if not the largest), UFC is decorated to play up its chicken.  Huge decals on the table, and chicken feet under the front counter where you order (which I couldn’t get a picture of)… it’s very kitschy cool quirky.  Casual and fairly empty for this Friday lunch, a friend and I grabbed a table in the middle of the place. 

I’d had dinner with Esther in the area a few nights earlier, and as we’d walked by I mentioned I was going here soon.  She said “You must get the sweet potato fries,” so I did.  I didn’t regret this decision!  Thanks for the tip – these were crisp, every so slightly sweet, not too starchy… and served with a small dipping cup of honey mustard.  Interestingly, when we ran out and asked for more, they gave us a packet of honey mustard that tasted and looked markedly different from the original cup they’d given us.  Hmmm. 

Because I like macaroni salad, I thought to add this as well.  It wasn’t particularly interesting – elbow macaroni, corn niblets, and a touch of mayo.  Inoffensive but blah. 

There are four different types of sauces, so we went with two orders, two flavors per order.  The above horribly framed photo is a ‘small’ order of wings, 10 pieces ($10). 

First up… sweet and spicy. 

I thought these were not very sweet, with the slightest touch of heat.  The flavor was okay, while the texture was off the hook.  Crisp exterior with no obvious breading, juicy, moist interior… very good fried chicken. 

And on this side, we have soy garlic. 

Again, very properly fried, juicy, moist interior with a crisp exterior.  The flavoring on this one was very similar to what you may be used to at BonChon or KyoChon, your standard Korean fried chicken places.  Not spicy at all, slightly sweet, slightly savoy, with a mild garlic taste to it (almost indiscernible, which might please some).  I found this almost a little too sweet though. 

And on the other side, a small order of drumsticks. 

These are the hot.  So… I tried a piece and immediately regretted it.  I managed two bites before I had to put it down and give up.  Ummm… yeah. 

Our fourth and last flavor should have been BBQ mustard, but I guess there was a communication error during ordering because these looked and tasted just like the soy garlic.  Not wanting to figure out what happened or try to get an order of the BBQ mustard, we left it as is.  These were a more rounded style for the soy garlic – since there was more meat to exterior, the flavoring was distributed better to the meat such that it wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet.  I liked these the best, though I’m not against trying the BBQ mustard next time – yes, there will be a next time! – or trying the sweet/spicy on the drumsticks. 

There are some other items and specials decorating the walls.  Be warned: the menu they gave us had slightly higher prices than the postcards in the bucket outside, or the posters here, so I’m not sure what we were charged.  It wasn’t expensive, though, and with our Groupon, it was even cheap. 

Yvo says: While it’s true that when you’re in that area, there are a ton of ethnic food options, this place is as good as any for food exploration.  The fried chicken is undoubtedly delicious, with four different flavors and a fair selection of sides.  You can pick so many different combinations here… yum! and it’s priced about the same as other places. 
recommended