Howlin’ Rays Country fried chicken

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Back home in Charlottesville, Virginia, the best fried chicken I’ve tasted comes from a tiny unassuming restaurant beside the train tracks. At Wayside Ole’ Virginia Fried Chicken, just $11 gets you a piping hot box of 8 drumsticks, breasts, thighs and wings, dark and light meat. Order some sides — biscuits, hush puppies, coleslaw, green beans — and a couple of old-school glass bottles of bubbly burgundy Cheerwine — I’m looking at you, North Carolina! — and you can’t beat it.

But now that the Fentress Swanson household has relocated to LA, I’m on the lookout for good fried chicken here, and I’ve got to say: the country-style chicken at Howlin’ Rays ain’t too shabby. Here’s where to find out more about the dynamic duo behind this recipe.