My intense craving to scarf down a spicy chicken sandwich drove my dog and I to Scratch Cookery Thursday afternoon, with almost no one around to delay me from immersing myself in delicious food.
I was initially a bit lost looking for the eatery because I expected an obvious food truck parked outside as it’s labeled on Yelp. However, I simply needed to look down at a chalkboard sign that read “Scratch Cookery x Original Gravity” that caught my attention with its cute drawing of a chicken and a beer.
The Scratch Cookery food truck is typically located only four minutes away from campus near South First Street and
open Thursday through Sunday.
However, on the day I went, it was located inside another restaurant called Original Gravity, where they are using and sharing Original Gravity’s
kitchen while Scratch Cookery’s own restaurant is being built near the same location.
I was greeted by friendly staff and was able to eat in the restaurant’s back patio with my dog.
Scratch Cookery formerly went by the name Shark Bait, but rebranded in 2018. The manager, Andie Nguyen, said the restaurant’s owner switched to chicken sandwiches after crafting the perfect, delicious recipe.
Nguyen also said employees take their time going through every single piece of chicken to ensure they’re up to par. The chefs marinate the chicken for at least 24 hours and they get fresh breading every morning.
The dedication in crafting the perfect recipe really comes across in the taste of the sandwich.
Although it’s at a temporary location, the restaurant had a really nice and relaxing aesthetic. Its outdoor patio had pleasant picnic tables and calming background music which added to the mellow ambience.
With the pandemic still ongoing, the eatery had its menu available online through an easily accessible QR code on the tables.
Although its menu is smaller than other restaurants, there’s still many choices available plus options for varying spice levels. It also had a seasonal Shrimp Po Boy they included for Lent.
The first thing I ordered was fries and it’s worth noting they were made fresh and not frozen. They were perfectly crispy without being overly oily and were cutely shaped almost like a moon.
Next I ordered the two most popular items, according to one of the waiters: the Grilled Cheese Nashville Hot with Texas Toast at a level two spice and the Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich at a level zero spice, which is basically coated in black pepper.
The two sandwiches are essentially the same but the latter had a brioche bun rather than Texas toast and cheese.
Both sandwiches were ginormous! They were way bigger than my Chihuahua’s head so I was quite intimidated.
I had some difficulty taking the first bite because I couldn’t get my mouth to open wide enough to fully fit in the sandwich, but after the initial
bite everything went well and I was able to taste all the ingredients together.
The two sandwiches had flawlessly cooked chicken that was the perfect combination of crispy and juicy. The tenderness helped ease the spiciness of the breading on the chicken and it had a nice red and orange color.
The spices on both the level two and level zero sandwiches were evenly coated, which added to the quality of the sandwiches more than anything else. This is unlike other places such as Chick-fil-A where its spicy chicken is good but seems rushed and the spice isn’t
evenly distributed.
The other ingredients including the coleslaw, pickles and comeback sauce, paired together perfectly. Comeback sauce is a dairy-based sauce with garlic and cajun and is popular in the South. I’m not a big fan of coleslaw or pickles but it complemented the sandwiches very well and helped tame how spicy it was.
The cheese on the Grilled Cheese Nashville Hot truly completed the whole sandwich with the right amount of crunchiness to blend with the tender chicken.
Scratch Cookery has the best chicken sandwiches that are juicy and savory. They cater to those who aren’t as well-equipped to handle spice and those who live for the heat. It deserves more recognition and is definitely worth the time to check out, but make sure you wear clothes you aren’t afraid of ruining with a
little sauce.
