Taste of the Nation Recap: Fried Chicken and More Fried Chicken

Piles of Plan Check's fried chicken

By Lesley Balla

If there's one take-away from yesterday's Taste of the Nation, the annual foodie fundraiser for Share Our Strength (more than $250,000 was raised), it's that fried chicken is on everyone's mind. There were many different versions served throughout the day, the highlight being Plan Check's hot, crunchy, smoky boneless chicken with sweet yam preserves and pickled okra. Most people hit that table a few times, and there was plenty; chef Ernesto Uchimura served it till the very end.

The event's venue change left little to be desired - it was moved from Culver City's charming, grassy, shady Media Park to a blacktop parking lot at The Lot - but the restaurants, chefs, bartenders (slushees and punch bowls!) and beer folk really upped their game. There was a lot of deliciousness happening at every turn, and too many favorite bites to list here. But we can't stop thinking about the fried chicken, so here's a slideshow of some of the best we tried. Is fried chicken the new pork belly for food events? Nothing wrong with that.