The Search for the Perfect Fried Chicken : Bird in a Melting Pot

Fried chicken may be as American as apple pie, but that doesn’t mean other cultures don’t share our finger-lickin’ obsession. Herewith, a survey of L.A.’s ethnic fried chicken specialists.

When a place bills itself as “The House That Fried Chicken Built,” as Max’s of Manila does, you expect extraordinary chicken. At least, I did. I was even hoping to find my favorite Filipino snack, chicharrones de pollo-- crunchy deep-fried chicken skin. I found neither.

Max’s fried chicken is simple, almost unseasoned, lightly crusted and little more than acceptable. You can dress up Max’s chicken with the accompanying banana catsup--a sweet and sour condiment made from bananas, garlic and vinegar that appears on every table in catsup-type bottles. But the chicken here is certainly nothing that would entice anyone to take a midnight drive.

Max’s of Manila, 3575 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 384-3043. Open Monday-Thursday 7:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m., Friday-Sunday 7:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m.

I had better luck with Furaibo, a 60-restaurant Japanese chain with a branch in Gardena. Furaibo serves teba saki chicken, which is based on a classic Japanese recipe called toriniku tatsuta-age-- fried chicken that’s been marinated before cooking.

At Furaibo, the chicken parts are scored deeply to better absorb the marinade’s flavor. A faint mist of flour coats the chicken’s exterior and forms a thin, crackly surface as the chicken is cooked. Like most well-executed Japanese fried dishes, this chicken seems as though it hasn’t been cooked in oil at all.

Teba-saki chicken comes in a range of flavors, from sweet to extra spicy. And you can be picky about which chicken parts you eat: Choose from Tarzan (half a chicken), Jane (a chicken breast), Chita (the leg and thigh) or Teba (a whole order of wings). The take-out orders are wrapped up like o-bento in colorful printed paper, and they come with rice and pickles--basics of any Japanese meal--plus a shredded cabbage salad.

Furaibo, 1741 W. Redondo Beach Blvd. (in Tozai Plaza), Gardena. (213) 329-9441. Open Tuesday-Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., 5 p.m.-11 p.m.

Only a few blocks away from Furaibo is Rokumeikan. This is probably Los Angeles’ only full-fledged “cutlet parlor” or tonkatsu-ya . All over Japan, tonkatsu-ya are popular for quick lunches and inexpensive dinners. Pork, breaded and deep-fried, is the big business at a tonkatsu-ya , but most serve a wide variety of other cutlets, including shrimp, salmon, ground beef and, of course, chicken.

Rokumeikan’s chicken cutlet is, in fact, one of the best versions of fried chicken I have tasted. Unlike the batter-fried tempura or the dry-fried kara-age employed at Furaibo, the food is breaded with panko, irregularly shaped bread crumbs that, when fried, give each item a flaky pastrylike surface. A pitcher of Japanese Worcestershire sosu --it looks like teriyaki sauce but the taste is more piquant--is always presented with the cutlets. You can also munch on a devastatingly good appetizer of kara-age- style fried chicken wings, and all of Rokumeikan’s cutlet dinners include soup and rice.

Rokumeikan Cutlet Parlor, 15607 S. Normandie Ave. (Inside the Travelodge Motel), Gardena. (213) 324-4477. Open for lunch Monday -Friday 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; dinner Monday-Friday 5:30 p.m.-9:45 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 5:30 p.m.-9:45 p.m.

Don’t be alarmed if the fried chicken you’ve ordered at Borobudur Garden comes to your table looking quite black--indeed almost burnt. It’s the Ketjap manis, a thick, sweet molasseslike soy sauce in Borobudur’s marinade that gives the chicken its dark ominous appearance--and its addictive sweet-salty flavor. The marinade is left clinging to the bird as it cooks; then it caramelizes, resulting in a crispy exterior without any sort of batter or coating.

I should explain that Borobudur Garden is an Indonesian restaurant specializing in noodle dishes and, yes, fried chicken. This chicken is so good that most people who order the quarter fried chicken with rice and salad ($2.75) invariably wish they’d ordered the half chicken for $3.75--or perhaps two halves since the chicken is sold to go and is just as appealing cold.

Borobudur’s mie dishes (thin egg noodles) and ketoprak (rice noodles) with a peanut-tamarind sauce, are sublime. But the restaurant’s lackluster version of the Indonesian salad gado gado, would be a good dish to miss.

Borobudur Garden, 821 W. Las Tunas Drive, San Gabriel, (818) 281-6521. Open Tuesday-Sunday 11 a.m.-9 p.m.