Among the many restaurants located on Fourth Avenue, a new food joint has recently opened its doors.
The Drunken Chicken has been serving its specialty, fried chicken and waffles, to the public for almost three weeks.
Micah Blatt, owner of Mr. Head’s Art Gallery and Bar and co-owner of the Drunken Chicken, said he wanted to bring to the street a restaurant with a new style of food.
“I opened the bar in 2010, so I’ve been eating on Fourth Avenue for about seven years,” he said. “I wanted to add something different to this part of town. There just wasn’t good fried chicken on Fourth. That’s the concept that we wanted to build on when opening this restaurant.”
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Micah said some of the most popular food items on the menu since its opening have been the mac and cheese, fried deviled eggs and what’s known as The Beast, a chicken strip wrapped in bacon and then fried in waffle batter.
“All the cheese sauces are made from scratch with cheddar and pepper jack cheese, and we also bread our own chicken,” Blatt said.
According to Blatt, the inspiration of the name came from providing and creating beer-battered waffles. The restaurant also has a selection of crafted beers to go along with its hearty meals.
“We want to build an environment where people are happy with the quality of the food,” Blatt said. “Most fried foods are cooked with soybean oil, which is the cheapest and worst oil for your body. Here, we use canola oil to make fresh and healthier chicken. People are coming in and have said they have never tasted chicken this tender. It’s fun seeing people’s reactions to the food.”
The restaurant’s front doors are designed like garage doors, making it even more open to the public.
The design of the restaurant creates an atmosphere suitable for people of all ages.
“I have a 3-year-old, and so we thought we’d put in a simple kid’s menu, too,” Blatt said. The kid’s menu at The Drunken Chicken offers chicken nuggets, fries and a drink.
Ben Sattler, the manager at Mr. Heads Bar and co-owner of the Drunken Chicken said the quality of the chicken is what makes it worth trying.
“There is no better chicken than what we have delivered here to our store in Tucson,” he said. “There are never any antibiotics or artificial hormones in the chicken we cook because it’s good and clean chicken. When cooked, the chicken is so tender it tears easily with just a fork.”
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Sattler said the restaurant doesn’t freeze chicken. When it receives the chicken, it is cleaned and marinated. The chicken is fried once a customer orders, according to Sattler.
“We do this so the chicken doesn’t sit and become soggy; the chicken is just a lot better and crispier when it’s made fresh,” he said.
In addition to the food, Sattler said he wanted the restaurant to feel fun and comfortable for his customers by, for example, showing football games.
“We love sports, and so we want people to come in and enjoy drinks, food and entertainment,” Sattler said. “We say give us a try and tell us what you think. We are conscious of everything we put into our food and the quality of it because we enjoy seeing happy customers.”
The Drunken Chicken is now open to the public at 429 N. Fourth Ave. and offers chicken and waffles from 10 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. all other days.
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