Charlotte, NCFried Chicken

A father-and-son soul food kitchen at 3100 Statesville Avenue where the wings come out whole rather than split, lightly breaded in a house seasoning that has not changed. Add a couple of sides and it is a full plate for very little money, which is why the counter stays busy from open to close.

A fried chicken counter inside the Shell station at 201 East Boulevard, regular or jumbo, mild or spicy, with a side and a roll. The lunch line runs out the door and the kitchen keeps going until either the day ends or the chicken does, whichever happens first.

A Sugar Creek counter at 1331 West Sugar Creek Road serving white meat, dark meat and wing-only dinners with the old-school sides intact, chicken livers and gizzards included. Nothing here has been redesigned for anybody, and the plates come out heavy enough to justify the drive across town.

A NoDa kitchen at 3106 North Davidson Street themed on the neighborhood's mill-village history, where the chicken is brined, battered and fried to order. It arrives with mac and cheese and a rotating set of vegetable sides, and the bar behind it takes its cocktail list as seriously as the fryer.

An Uptown soul food room at 214 North College Street, open since 1998 and still full before a game. Southern fried chicken shares the menu with shrimp and grits, collards, salmon cakes and cornbread, and it has outlasted most of the Uptown restaurants that opened after it.