Best Fried Chicken in Manhattan

Charles Pan-Fried Chicken

A Harlem institution on Frederick Douglass Boulevard run by chef Charles Gabriel, who has been pan-frying chicken in seasoned cast iron since the 1980s — almost the only spot in Manhattan still using a true pan-fry rather than a fryer.

Because the pan-fry method gives the skin a different geometry than deep-frying — flatter, deeply browned, with crackle that survives the takeout container — and Gabriel's seasoning has not changed in three decades.

Order Pan-fried dark-meat plate with collard greens and mac.

Order the dark-meat plate over white — the cast-iron technique rewards the higher fat content, and the breast can dry out before it makes it home.

Coqodaq

Simon Kim's Flatiron Korean-fried-chicken tasting room on West 18th, a sibling to Cote, where the bird is dry-aged, double-fried, and served as a multi-course $78 tasting with champagne.

Because Coqodaq is the only restaurant on this list that treats Korean fried chicken as a fine-dining format — the dry-age step changes the skin texture in a way nobody else here is doing — and the wine list rivals any steakhouse.

Order The Bucket List tasting menu with the champagne pairing.

Splurge once on the full Bucket List menu instead of ordering a la carte — the curated progression includes the corn cheese and a soft-serve finale that the standard menu does not.

Lord's