« Yep, the horse is still dead | Main | Listen to the Laibach, it'll set the mood »
September 10, 2002
Nobody But Harold
And I thought it was only a Chicago thang.
From the Detroit News:
What do a former NFL football player and an ex-Ford engineer know about making fried chicken? Plenty, according to Metro Detroit carry-out connoisseurs. Harold's Chicken Shack opened its doors in Ferndale three years ago, and has quickly become a local favorite."I think what customers like about our product is the uniqueness. All of our chicken is cooked to order and hand-seasoned, almost like what Mom used to make," said Dora Jenkins, a former Ford engineer who owns the business with her husband, Trezelle Jenkins.
The chicken's popularity recently earned it accolades in The Detroit News' Michigan's Best Reader's Poll, where it placed third for the Best Fried Chicken, and also took first place in a Detroit News Taste Panel blind sampling of carry-out chicken.
Harold Pierce founded Harold's Chicken Shack in Chicago during the 1950s. There are currently about 50 independently owned stores in Chicago. Trezelle Jenkins, a University of Michigan grad who played football for the Kansas City Chiefs and the New Orleans Saints, grew up loving the taste of the chicken in Chicago.
"I knew the owner of the local shop by my home. When I moved to Michigan I wanted to bring a taste of Chicago with me, so I began to inquire about opening a Harold's here," said Trezelle Jenkins.
[. . .] In addition to fried chicken, Harold's also sells fish, shrimp, liver and gizzards, along with side dishes such as okra, poppers, cheese sticks, coleslaw, macaroni salad and the ever-popular homemade desserts. The stores also provide catering for businesses, churches and schools.
All fast food, carry-out places should sell okra.
Mic Kaczmarczik has images of a sign or two, but I couldn't find one of the car.
Words cannot describe the car.
Nor could even Straight Dope make sense of the numbering scheme:
None of this helps with what, to my mind, is the most baffling corporate numbering scheme in American business today, namely Harold's Chicken Shack on the south side (mostly) of Chicago. Harold's Chicken Shacks are identified (mostly) by number. However, a Chicago correspondent observes, there are a half dozen unnumbered chicken shacks, all presumably vying for the honor of number 1, followed by numbers 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14B, 15, 18, 19, 20, 24, 26, 27, 29, 35, 50, 51, 53, 55, 58, 65, and 71. Noting the numerous lacunae in this scheme, one wonders: Is there an unusually high attrition rate in the chicken shack business (the south side is, after all, the baddest part of town), or did Harold just lose track?
The west side would dispute that "baddest part of town" line. Oh, they're tough, I'll give 'em that. But the lower east side of Chicago is the part that nobody goes into. Nobody.
Unless they're wearing scuba gear.
If you couldn't figure that one out, I ain't explaining the title of this for you, either.
I will say "Fuck Bernard Epton" one more time, because it always bears repeating.
Posted by Aaron at September 10, 2002 08:19 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.uppity-negro.com/cgi-uppity-negro/mt-tb.cgi/462
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Nobody But Harold: