So, if you’ve followed the blog for a while, you’ve probably noticed my affinity for Asian food. But I was heading to Dagu Rice Noodle, not for the noodles, but for their fried chicken. In a November, 2023, Eater Atlanta article, they were highlighting great fried chicken in the metro and this was mentioned as”tender pieces of chicken [that] are encased in lightly fried, crispy skin with just enough seasoning..”. So, when crossing Buford Highway for a meeting, I swung inside the Perimeter to the strip mall where they reside.

The menu and walls highlight their “crossing bridge” rice noodles. The legend of the name is that a wife prepared a meal for her husband by giving him a steaming bowl of broth with the noodles on the side to take with him. Then, after he “crossed the bridge”, at lunch time, he put the noodles in the hot broth and, by doing it this way, the noodles weren’t mushy. The modern version of this style of cooking involves a bowl of steaming chicken broth and oil into which cooked rice noodles and other things are poured. It’s kind of like “hot pot” or shabu shabu.

The broth arrives in a container which is designed to keep the heat. There was a sign on the table warning that this was 150 degrees Celsius (300 degrees Fahrenheit), which explains why it was too stinking hot to eat. I put the noodles and some sides in the Mala broth (when I asked what Mala was, the best answer the server and I could agree upon was “spicy”) and waited. After a few minutes, I pulled the noodles back into the bowl they came from and used the giant spoon to ladle broth back atop them. After a bit of cooling, I was able to sip the soup and eat the noodles – and she did not lie about the spicy. Man, was this tasty. The hiccups immediately started. While things were cooling, the chicken arrived.

This was a half chicken, served with a dry salt-spice blend, a plastic glove (noticed that too late) and a steak knife. I cut the chicken into something resembling pieces then took the first bite. This chicken was, first and foremost, hot! After I could touch it, with my fingers, I found the skin as crispy as promised and the meat tender and moist. The spice-salt blend added more flavor to the white meat, without adding heat. I see why this made the list.