Portland, ORFried Chicken

Basilisk builds a Nashville-style fried chicken sandwich with real height, thighs stacked on a brioche bun and drenched in a spicy cayenne sauce. Portland Monthly places it among the city's standout fried chicken sandwiches rather than plated meals, giving the Kerns spot a different niche than the classic dinner-plate places.

Big's Chicken marinates its Alabama-style bird in Fresno chile, smokes it, then fries it and finishes with peppers and onion powders. Portland Monthly highlights the smoke step as the detail that separates the North Tabor spot from a standard fried chicken plate.

Screen Door built its reputation on buttermilk-battered fried chicken stacked tall on a sweet potato waffle, a weekend draw with an hour-plus wait. The dish anchors both the original Kerns location and the Pearl District's Screen Door Eastside, two of the busiest Southern kitchens in the city.

Reel M Inn is a dive bar first, but its fried chicken, cooked in a single fryer, draws long lines on its own. Portland Monthly describes the batter as bubbly and rippled, and diners regularly accept the wait as the price of the city's most old-school version of the dish.

Hat Yai marinates its Southern Thai-style fried chicken in white pepper, cumin, coriander, and garlic, then tops it with fried shallots. Portland Monthly frames it as a distinct regional take that sits apart from the city's Southern and Nashville-style fried chicken spots.