For the last six months, at the least, everyone has been telling me how good the fried chicken was at Table & Main.  But here’s the thing – you just can’t get to Roswell from our house at any time between 6:00 am – 10:00 pm.  Which really puts a damper on eating there.  Earlier this week, Eater Atlanta had a poll about who has the best fried chicken in town (since finished and published here).  And nine out of every ten write-ins, when I looked said “Table & Main”.

Tonight, we were heading to Alpharetta to see James Taylor (courtesy of my girls for my semi-centennial) and I realized that today was the day.  Winner, winner chicken dinner!  I tried to make a reservation on OpenTable to no avail, but after researching a little more, found out that they only take reservations for the main dining room.  They don’t take reservations for the front dining room, front porch patio or bar.  Odd.  The fire marshal sets maximum occupancy at 76, so I don’t know the number of reserve-able versus non-, but it’s a small number in total.

We arrived at 5:00, right as they opened (5:00-9:00, with slight closing variations, Tues – Sun), and had our choice of locations.  We took a table by one of the front windows, one of the servers said, “we’ll bring you some cheese straws in just a minute”, and, as she finished the words, these beauties appeared:

Crisp, airy and cheddar-licious.  A nice start.  The server, Constance, was very helpful, walking us through the menu, pointing out the highlights and award winners (the only one we didn’t ultimately order was the Charleston she crab soup).  I was surprised that Jo was ready to order so quickly (I was there for the chicken), but she told the server we were ready and she ordered the shrimp and grits and a side of the stuffed fried green tomatoes. 

The shrimp were served tail on (a pet peeve: why do chefs do this ? Does anyone actually eat the tail?), but after the vivisection, the tomato sauce, with Benton’s bacon was very good, and the grits were creamy.  A very well composed bowl that was returned empty.

My meal came with one side – I had to add the second.  When I saw the butter beans, I knew I would have those but the macaroni and cheese sounded so tempting…

So I ordered it, too.  The butter beans were cooked with Benton’s ham and had a smoky flavor.  The macaroni and cheese was made of multiple cheese with a crisp baked top crust.

The chicken was described as a full half chicken, white and dark meat, brined, battered and fried, moist and almost sweet to the taste.  Constance nailed it.  This was a massive amount of chicken, and I finished it, although I left more than half of each of the sides. 

This may well be the best fried chicken in Atlanta right now.  Granted, I haven’t had the chicken at the General Muir, but it would be hard pressed to top this.  It’s a massive amount of food for the money, served in a pleasant atmosphere.  If you haven’t been, you need to go.