We were driving on the 605 earlier today. We had an appointment in the City of Industry and were deciding on what to eat. Suddenly it came to me; "it's Monday, right? How about Chicken Box?" Not knowing if the place still had the "Monday Special", 10 pieces of broasted chicken and potatoes, the Missus found the number and called....and sure enough they did. After our appointment, I placed a call and we headed over to the Chicken Box.
Located in La Habra on Whittier Boulevard, next to the bowling alley, Monday nights often meant the "Monday Special" when we lived right over the hill. We both loved the broasted chicken. After moving to San Diego, I visited just about every broasted chicken joint and none even came close.
It was nice to see not much had changed....the simple take-out set-up, the food was still cooked to order so you had to tell them when you'd be picking things up. It was usually a 20-30 minute lead time. There was still the little kitschy display with chicken-country themed knick-knacks for sale.....
As much as I've lavished praise on the Chicken Box; for some strange contradictory reason, it has to be on a Monday.....perhaps it's nostalgia, or heck, maybe we're being cheap, but we'd always get it on a Monday.
We were surprised to see the Monday Special was only $11.89....you can get it on any day, but it'll cost you $16.99. You're limited to two specials per order. Broasted chicken, made by a patented and trademarked process of pressure frying chicken, ain't cheap stuff. From what I recall, the equipment is only available to food service, so you can only get this eating out. You can read more on the Broaster website.
They were doing a pretty steady business, folks coming in and picking up, one or two trays of the special. We finally got ours......we couldn't wait and headed over to one of the outdoor tables to see if the chicken had changed over the years. We were happy to note it had not; it was still as good as ever.
Man, this was good. These folks know how to use the Broaster. Nothing I've had in San Diego; even if they all use the same equipment and possibly the same marinade and process compares. The flavor of the coating was very simple and straight forward. This wasn't greasy in the least. The skin and coating was thin and crisp and much of the fat had rendered off. Also, each piece, regardless of size was cooked perfectly. It is claimed that broasted chicken is 44% more moist than fried chicken. It's easy to believe.....
The broasted potatoes weren't nearly as good as before; I think it used to be seasoned much more aggressively. But heck; this is the Chicken Box, not the Potato Shack.
This really made our day and brought back memories of our time in Rowland Heights. There aren't many of our old haunts that are still great after over a decade. We're glad the Chicken Box still is......it's also still better than Pittsburgh Chicken and Subs in Los Alamitos as well!
Chicken Box
330 E Whittier Blvd
La Habra, CA 90631
I used to live in La Habra, during my high school years, and never once heard about this place! Looks delish though, clearly I've got to go on a road trip myself.
Posted by: Susan B | Monday, 20 January 2014 at 08:22 PM
Broasted chicken AND broasted potatoes?!?!! How lucky you were to live so close. Glad you got to enjoy it again.
Posted by: Cathy | Tuesday, 21 January 2014 at 03:50 AM
Definitely going to give it a shot if I can find any in the South.
Posted by: nhbilly | Tuesday, 21 January 2014 at 06:09 AM
Hi Susan - I hope you do get to go on a roadtrip. Chicken Box was right over the hill from us when we lived in Rowland Heights.
Hi Cathy - It was great to have this again aftger all these years....and to know it was still good.
Hi Billy - There must be at least one broasted chicken place in SATX.
Posted by: Kirk | Tuesday, 21 January 2014 at 06:37 AM
That sure looks good! Are there any broasted chicken places in San Diego that are ok?
Posted by: Soo | Tuesday, 21 January 2014 at 10:09 AM
Hi Soo - Give Jimmy's in Santee a try:
Jimmy's Family Restaurant
9635 Mission Gorge Rd
Santee, CA 92071
Posted by: Kirk | Tuesday, 21 January 2014 at 11:55 AM
That looks good. I have that place bookmarked on Yelp but never made when visiting Disneyland. Have to make it a point to try it on the next visit. On our last trip tried Cream Pan and that was awesome.
Posted by: Kyle | Tuesday, 21 January 2014 at 12:50 PM
Hi Kyle - This is pretty much a take-out shack....good to take back to your room. I'd think about getting sides elsewhere.
Posted by: Kirk | Tuesday, 21 January 2014 at 01:38 PM
I use to have a Broaster House in the city I lived in back on the mainland east coast. Almost every week there was a Broasted Chicken dinner with broasted potatoes, pasta with red sauce and Italian antipasto salad in my house. Now living in Hawaii there is no Broasted Chicken in the islands so I approximate by pressure cooking my chicken for 50% of their cooking time with herbs and spices and then coating the chicken in a flour mix and quickly deep frying them to get the light thin crust. Almost the same as going to a Broaster House!
Posted by: Ken | Wednesday, 22 January 2014 at 09:57 PM
Sounds good Ken!
Posted by: Kirk | Thursday, 23 January 2014 at 06:58 AM