text: It has been my tradition to go to New York City at the end of May – to eat something delicious for my birthday. This year, I chose the Dutch for the famous Hot Fried Chicken, and also, the name of the restaurant sounds cool. We reserved a table for 3, but Michael’s sister tagged along, so that became 4. The restaurant isn’t very thrilled because my seat is half blocking the stairs to another table, but they accommodated the request nonetheless. It is the usual dingy new American restaurant decor, and very big for one situated in East Village. The front entrance is a room with bar seating and some tables, and main dining room has more seats. Our server isn’t great, but that might just be normal service in the big apple. (to be fair, we didn’t order drinks) Our order includes the Maine lobster as an appetizer, and 3 hot fried chickens.
  The fried chicken is cook to order, so the wait time is close to 20minutes. The lobster come out while we waited for the entree. I’m not a seafood fan, so I don’t know how to evaluate its deliciousness. One thing I do know is that the lobster is kind of small, and weird that it is serve on ice. The seaweed that comes with it is yummy. The Dutch does not have a large menu, but there are some interesting items, such as the duck sausage. They are also known for their oyster; it is just too bad I am not into seafood.
  Our waitress drop 3 dishes of fried chicken in front of our eyes just as we debated if cooking lobster in boiling water is more cruel than slaughtering a fish. With the experience of the small lobster, I’m now on the assumption that the portion of fried chicken is going to be closer to chicken strips. Fortunately, that is far from the truth. 4 pieces of meat! That’s slightly more than half a chicken, because it comes with 2 thighs, 1 breast and 1 wing. The biscuits are coated with honey, and the vegetable that makes this a balance meal is a small bowl of coleslaw. Even though it is hot fried chicken, the hot sauce comes on the side, so the meat is dry coated and not wet coated. There is a bite to the coating, and the meat is juicy, not too greasy. In other words, good, but it isn’t blowing my mind. The biscuit stands out with a combination of sweet and savory, but slightly too dry. Mouthwatering if they have butter for me to stuff it in the biscuit. I did order fries, which are the thin and crispy kind, and they are what McDonald’s strive to be.
  I come out the other end kind of disappointed. I don’t understand the rave review for the hot fried chicken. I consider the chicken enjoyable, but not something I would reserve a table for. The dessert menu looks good, but we skip it for Amorino’s gelato. Thought – maybe fried chicken is a cheap food, and it doesn’t get any better than KFC’s?
  Visited: May 26th, 2018 at 8pm for dinner.
  Address: 131 Sullivan St, New York, NY.