Angelique Chao

Weird meats have become de rigueur for the latest generation of Twin Cities foodies. Newcomers to the restaurant scene like Piccolo nonchalantly list delicacies such as tripe and pigs' feet on the menu; even Haute Dish, a place that supposedly specializes in comfort food, features a main course of sweetbreads and foie fried rice. Among all this sophistication you might think that the simple pleasures of grilled chicken breast or roasted pork chops have gone by the wayside. Yet at a recent tasting dinner organized by Simple, Good, and Tasty at Brasa Rotisserie, the course that generated the most buzz in the room was not the exotic braised goat. It was the humble fried chicken. How could this unassuming bird tickle the palates of fickle foodies enough to become the high point of the meal? I went to Kadejan Inc., the poultry company that provided the chicken, to find out.