Howlin’ Ray’s - Los Angeles, CA

Slave girl told me about this fried chicken joint in Chinatown. I was curious about how a fried chicken restaurant able to survive in Chinatown so I must see.

Merchandise

We arrived around 3pm on a Saturday afternoon thinking we would miss the lunch rush. Wrong... The line was still about an hour long when we got there and there was a sign to indicate that. I was worried not able to get my chicken since they close at 4pm. After talking to the cashier, I found out they have someone to cut the line at 4, not closing the door at 4. So as long you can make it to the line by 4, you are cool.

You are welcome.

Forever long line

Open kitchen

The line was long and there's really nothing much to do so I would suggest to either have a pair of headphones with Netflix to do some public Netflix n chill, or go with a partner. In my case, I sent slave girl to the newly opened baohaus next door for some line snacks while waiting.

Since I don't see myself waiting this long for food often, I went baller on our orders. We got half bird, the sandwich, peach tea, lemonade, and hot chicken & waffles that is only available on weekends. All orders were done medium spicy because they could be burning over that level, according to them.

Hot pepper vinegar was awesome

There were plenty of seats outside the restaurant, but if possible, sitting at the counter would give you the best experience because you get to see how the chicken were cooked and taking pictures of the chefs. Let them know you want to take a picture of them and they will pose for you because they are an awesome bunch.

Sweet tea and lemonade

Addictive dipping sauce

I started with the sandwich and hands down the best spicy chicken sandwich I've ever had. Big portion and it was tender and juicy with tons of flavor. The dipping sauce that came with the sandwich was rich but not overpowering. The fries also had good amount of seasoning. My mouth waters just by thinking about it.

Spicy chicken sandwich is huge!!

my artsy shot :)

Chicken and waffles was one piece of either dark or white fried chicken with cut up bite sized waffles. Waffles were crispy with maple syrup on the side. I don't know what their secret was, but all their fried chicken had very consistent result that was just so tender and juicy regardless of the chicken part. I was especially impressed with the chicken breast from the half bird order.

Chicken and waffle

Half bird

Tender juicy breast meat

The wait was long but totally worth it. If you love fried chicken or chicken sandwich, you must try this place at least once in life time.