Chandler's Deli

Oh my Southern fried goodness! After a year or so of wanting to do it, I finally went with some friends to Chandler's Deli on Magnolia (3101 Magnolia). I've been hearing good things about the place for quite some time, so today was a long time coming. Chandler's is delicious. Being a Northerner, I was new to Southern Cooking. My first Southern Thanksgiving was such a treat. So many foods I had never really even seen before: turnip greens, okra, cornbread (cornbread in the north tends to be sweet, like dessert-ish). My first taste of Southern food, and I was hooked.

So I knew I would like Chandler's. It's in an old taco bell. You walk in and are immediately faced with the buffet counter and lots and lots of options. Fried chicken, rotisserie chicken, ribs, greens, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, etc. etc. And everything is remarkably cheap. I think vegetable sides are 1.50 each and, I can't remember the exact price, chicken pieces are only like a buck or a buck fifty.

The servings are huge. You get them in a styrofoam to go box, placed atop an orange tray. No matter what you get, there will be enough to take home.

How would I describe Chandler's food? Southern. Fried. Delicious. Certainly not healthy, but a good every-once-in-a-while sort of treat. And very reasonably priced. I got the turnip/mustard greens. They were good. I like mine a little spicier than they were, but each table has hot sauce. The mac and cheese was really, really good. I just kept thinking, it's a good thing boot camp starts on Monday. I had a bite of my friends' okra. Yum. Also, we got a side of fried green tomatoes. Made to order and only a buck fifty. They were yummy but extremely hot.

The Pizza Kitchen is across the street, and that's another place we wigshoppers (and our friends) enjoy.

Magnolia's got a lot of great food gems; Chandler's is definitely one of them.

Oh, and yeah, they've got Kool-Aid.