Claudie's Fried Chicken (of Middletown) has opened a branch in Matawan on Route 34 in the same plaza as Salsa Latina. (They are where Subway used to be, next to Dunkin Donuts.) Their chicken was very good--not quite up to Chicken Holiday (IMHO), because there is some coating on it--and the pieces were quite large compared to other places.
I found the ribs a problem, because if the ribs are covered in sauce, I want to eat them with a knife and fork, and the plasticware provided just doesn't do it.
However, Mark is a "ribs-are-a-finger-food" sort of guy, and he said they were very good and meaty, although somewhat short. (On the other hand, they gave us six for the price of the four we ordered, so maybe they were unusually small that day.) They are not true BBQ ribs, of course, and I'm not sure if there is a choice of sauce--they list lots of sauces for the wings, but they may be more for dipping than cooking.
We wanted to try both the chicken and the ribs, and we're small eaters, so we didn't get any sides. I will leave those for others to report on.
Chicken Holiday has still not reopened. The latest notice posted on the door was from September 23 and said they had passed most of the hurdles. I'm still looking forward to trying their pancit, but I'm not holding my breath.
On the way up Route 34, we passed two new (or soon to be new) restaurants. The Black Fig Greek Kitchen and Bar is where Bistro 34 used to be. Their latest Facebook post says they are getting closer and the awnings are up, but we all know that means nothing. A little further north is "Bon Appetit", for which I can find no information whatsoever on the Internet. Is it new, old, a
figment of my imagination, or what?
