7 days ago
Chicken and Rice Forever
It's been brought to my attention that I have a problem with overusing superlatives: Santa Fe is the best city I've ever been to, that's the coolest pair of shoes I've ever seen, that's the funniest thing you've ever said. I'm the boy who cried 'best.'
So you're within your rights to question my raves — except when it comes to chicken and rice. Then I really, really mean it.
Chicken and rice, chicken and rice, how I love thee. You are my two favorite foods, separately and, more important, together. The fact that nearly every culture has a version of chicken and rice is a testament to its nature: lovable, exalted, unrivaled. Dare I say, the best. Here are three versions that make my heart whir.
There are so many halal carts in Midtown that have done me right over the years. Before the pandemic, mind you, there was a time when I spent five days a week in Times Square. Royal Grill Halal Food isn't the closest to The Times's newsroom, but, on a Reddit suggestion, I trotted out in the rain for a white plastic container of exactly what the two people ahead of me ordered: chicken over rice with white sauce, green sauce and hot sauce. My preferred amount of sauce is the amount that, at first glance, makes this a soup. (…slop?) But unearth the tender yellow rice and burnished, fiery (like, actually spicy!) chicken buried underneath and the ratio works itself out just fine.
44th Street (6th Avenue)
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