Creole-spiced fried chicken with a peppery crust, served with dirty rice and red beans. The Third Ward Sunday tradition since Percy Creuzot opened the Scott Street counter in 1969.
Where to eat it: 2 restaurants across 1 city.
Percy 'Frenchy' Creuzot, a New Orleans-born Black entrepreneur, opened a po-boy counter on Scott Street in Houston's Third Ward on July 3, 1969, two blocks from Texas Southern University. He shifted the menu to Creole fried chicken with a heavy paprika-and-cayenne rub by the 1970s. The Scott Street counter became a Houston Sunday institution: UH students, neighbourhood elders and visitors from 30 miles out wait in line for whole birds at the same window. Frenchy's now has multiple locations across the city, but Scott Street remains the original. The Creole influence (a Louisiana technique inside a Texas fried-chicken frame) is the defining gesture.
Common allergens: Gluten
Tip from the editors. Brine overnight if you can. The flour dredge sticks to a wet, seasoned surface much better than a dry one.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Frenchy's Chicken on Scott Street in Houston is Percy Creuzot's 1969 Third Ward Creole fried chicken counter, two blocks from Texas Southern University and a Houston Sunday tradition.
Signature: Creole fried chicken, Dirty rice
Order: Three-piece dark meat with dirty rice and red beans. A peach cobbler to close.
Tip: Sunday after church is the line. Weekday lunch is the move. The Scott Street counter is the original; multiple satellites exist.
Bludorn in Houston is Aaron Bludorn's Gulf Coast fine-dining room on Taft Street, opened 2020, with a lobster pot pie that broke nationally and a serious Gulf-seafood pantry.
Order: Lobster pot pie. Whole branzino for two. The duck breast with stone fruit in season.
Tip: Bar seats face the open kitchen and serve the same menu. Book the patio if the weather is sub-30C.
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