Full disclosure right up front: The Burn has a pretty big obsession with good old fashioned fried chicken. So that’s why we’ve been excited to learn about some new fried chicken options potentially coming to the greater Ashburn area.
The latest news broke today when the Washington Business Journal reported that the Bojangles restaurant chain is making a major push into Northern Virginia. They have three franchisees lined up locally and hope to open Bojangles locations, featuring their popular fried chicken, “everywhere from Springfield to Manassas to Fredericksburg to Winchester,” according to the article. Fingers crossed a Loudoun location makes it on that list.
Meanwhile, as regular readers of The Burn know, the Maryland-based Royal Farms convenience store chain is getting ready to build their first Loudoun location right in the heart of Ashburn, near the intersection of Claiborne Parkway and Broadlands Boulevard. It will be going up in the same Van Metre development where the new Lidl grocery store is opening. And just like Wawa convenience stores are famous for their hoagies, Royal Farms stores are famous for their fried chicken. (The Burn has tried it in Maryland and it’s very good.)
Finally, while we don’t regularly cover Reston Town Center news, our heart skipped a beat the other day when we noticed a new restaurant called Hen Penny had taken up roost there. It’s a fast-casual fried chicken restaurant. Hen Penny is a spin-off of the Hen Quarter restaurants which have locations in Alexandria and Silver Spring. This is the first Hen Penny location, and if successful, they reportedly hope to open 20-25 more in the DC market. When we asked if they had any idea where, employees said they had heard rumors of a possible Sterling location.
Stay tuned to The Burn for all your breaking fried chicken news.
Royal Farms is very good. Bojangles not so much in my opinion. I think Ashburn will be pleasently surprised at convenience store chicken. BTW. Krispy Chicken in the Libert gas station on 50 has incredible tendesign and biscuits. Can’t speak to the bone in yet.
Agree with your thoughts on RF and Bojangles. We’ve had mixed results with Krispy Krunchy. Good sometimes, subpar sometimes.
I have been waiting for “gas station chicken” aka Royal Farms to open but in the mean time, you (I’m talking to you, fellow fried chicken fans) must try Johnny Ray’s Sultry Soul Food, now operating a few days a week out of Chefscape on Ashburn Rd. Johnny Ray used to be open in Herndon and his food is fantastic and he makes the best fried chicken I’ve had in a really long time. I was so sad when the Herndon location closed as it was right next door to my office but then I stumbled upon his Chefscape location. I highly recommend it and not just for the chicken, all his food is awesome, most especially the smothered pork chop. Follow that up with a piece of peach cobbler and you will be in a heavenly food coma.
If you travel at all to South Florida, there is a great place called Bay Bay’s Fried Chicken that has two locations in West Palm Beach. Great chicken with a little kick.
It’s actually kind of funny how hard it is to find good fried chicken. I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the chicken that was served at “Family Meal”. They advertised that they had the world’s best and I thought it was not even the best in One Loudoun (Hail & Hog had better).
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