Southern style fried chicken is my new favorite comfort food. I had some serious fried chicken cravings this past Sunday, so I decided to drag my poor, unsuspecting boyfriend to Howlin’ Ray’s to wait in line with me for arguably the best fried chicken in LA. You know it has to be good when there is always a 1-2 hour wait no matter what day you go and what time you go. Howlin’ Ray’s has an impressive 4.5 star rating on Yelp, averaged over 1300+ reviews. It is located in a plaza in Chinatown, along with other popular favorites Chego and Baohouse.

You might think it’s crazy to wait 2 hours for fried chicken, but I actually thought it was worth it! I had the chicken sandwich there and took a half chicken to-go (both medium spiciness). The chicken sandwich was the best fried chicken sandwich I’ve ever had – it contains a gigantic piece of chicken, coleslaw, pickles, and Howlin’ Ray’s special "comeback sauce." Additionally, all their fried chicken combos (not the sandwich) come with white bread and pickles. They have a chicken and waffles special on weekends.

The spiciness levels are: country (no heat), mild, medium, hot, x-hot, and howlin! I love spicy food, and the medium was pretty spicy for me. My nose was running by the end of my sandwich. As for the howlin, there are actually Youtube videos of people trying it and crying. Howlin’ Ray’s spiciness scale is no joke.