The Find: Dicks’ Succulent Chicken, an off-the-radar place you need to know about

As I ate my way through the menus of three off-the-radar restaurants recently, it became clear why I waited for a table or service at all three. Despite their bare bones appearance and low brow locations, each attracts a loyal crowd and an army of regular customers. These are not fancy places. They don’t take reservations. The interior lighting is the same as you’d find in a laundromat. And the music? Whatever the cooks want it to be.

Dicks’ Succulent Chicken is one such place. Later, we’ll profile two more places that won’t make you empty your wallet or valet your car.

dicks’ succulent chicken, crawfish, biscuit and okra

I first heard about Dicks’ Succulent Chicken from a big name chef who was cookoo about this new Dallas fried chicken cluckery.

“It’s the best fried chicken in town,” he told me.  Then another chef and then a bartender clucked about it, too. What was going on at this new fried chicken place tucked beside a taqueria in the ass end of a South Dallas convenience store?

Turns out, Dicks’ Succulent Chicken serves a mighty fine bird, its crispy, crackly crust and meat deeply seasoned with what tasted like a heavy shake of Old Bay and celery salt. Shards of that crust break off in big sheets so you get a chunk of meat and a hunk of crust in each bite.

The price is right, too: a breast, a side and a tender butter biscuit will set you back $3.69. (If you’re expecting organic, free range chicken for that price, you’re scratching in the wrong pen.) Even better than the fried chicken was a plate of fried crawfish tails, which tasted fresh as if they’d just taken a car ride from Louisiana to Dallas that morning. Battered in a salty, peppery cornmeal crust, Dicks’ sells a half-pound serving with a side and a biscuit for $7.99. Extra points for the convenience store location, which makes snagging a six pack of beer — and maybe a taco or two– extra convenient.

I don’t know who Ms. Dicks is, but if she’d use better quality chicken, she really would have the best yard bird in town.

2910 Ruder Street, at the corner of Singleton Blvd. and Loop 12. 214-630-7848.