A simple menu makes for excellent food at Bok Bok Chicken
Candy garlic wings with fries from Bok Bok Chicken.
Spicy house wings with fries from Bok Bok Chicken.
House boneless wings with fries from Bok Bok Chicken.
When it comes to menu depth and offerings, I prefer eateries with menus that don’t make me feel like I’m reading a novel. Hint, hint, Cheesecake Factory.
This was one of the first reasons I was so intrigued to dine at Bok Bok Chicken in American Fork.
The second was the unique name, which, for those who’ve seen “Crazy Rich Asians,” reminded me of a memorable exchange in the movie about what chickens do, and what “Bok Bok” means for chickens. I won’t spoil the rest of the scene, because it has some of the best dialogue in the movie. And fair warning, this won’t be the last “Crazy Rich Asians” reference.
Bok Bok Chicken recently set up shop in American Fork after being in the Village at South Campus for a short time. The new location has only been open for about two months and shares space with Kitchen 88.
There isn’t much to speak of for a seating area at Bok Bok Chicken. There are two tables and a few chairs for those waiting on food, almost like this was an old Little Caesar’s Pizza, so plan on this being a take out kind of meal.
The owner was very friendly and freely talked with me while ordering my food and after picking it up. He talked with me about the history of the location, the business and even the craft of perfecting something as simple as chicken wings into little fried masterpieces.
As I said, I love menus that are brief, like J Dawgs or In-N-Out Burger — opportunities for customization, but clear perfecting of a craft.
In “Crazy Rich Asians” there’s a scene during which the main characters venture out to a market for food. Each vendor is only selling one dish, but one character comments that those chefs have been perfecting those recipes for years.
Places with menus that practically need chapters bother me because I just can’t believe that they are making 250 items (no joke, Cheesecake Factory’s menu has 250 items) well. They’re spread too thin.
But when a restaurant makes just a few items, that establishes a trust in me that they’ve perfected their craft, and Bok Bok Chicken was no exception.
I ordered two orders of boneless wings, one coated in house sauce and the other in spicy house sauce. I also chose an order of bone-in wings tossed in candy garlic sauce. You can also get chicken naked, without sauce. A half chicken and a whole chicken are also on the menu, but that seemed like a bit more than I could chew. Good for a family though, I’m sure.
This isn’t your mama’s fried chicken. This is Korean-style fried chicken. All wings are double-fried, so this isn’t necessarily a diet-friendly choice. But since they’re double-fried, these are some of the crunchiest wings I have ever had. Each wing, whether bone-in or boneless, was exceptionally meaty and juicy; these weren’t just bits of gristly fried breading. And they are drenched in sauce, to the point that a dipping sauce, while common with bar wings a la Buffalo Wild Wings, would be pretty pointless.
The house sauce-coated boneless wings were some of the best boneless wings I’ve ever had, by far my favorite of the order. The house sauce was mild, with a hint of ginger, garlic and sweet chili sauce, with green onions on top of the sticky, sweet wings.
The house spicy was, in a word, unexpected. I’ve always considered myself to be a lover of spicy foods. Needless to say, the house spicy sauce cleared my sinuses out better than a Neti Pot. Take the house sauce, add a generous portion of gochujang (hot pepper paste), and you have a delicious, spicy blend that was, while intimidating at first, bursting with flavor.
I feel like I could smell the candy garlic from across the street, and I probably wasn’t wrong, considering my car smelled of the candy garlic wings for a few days. You’ll definitely want a few complimentary mints for this one.
The wings were, as the boneless wings, crunchy and drenched in sauce. The candy garlic is, as the name implies, very strong, with enough garlic to ruin any first date. But, that doesn’t mean it didn’t taste good. Many Korean delicacies are loaded with garlic, this being no exception. Combine that with the sweet onion taste, and it was well worth the few hours of bad breath.
Because each entree comes with two sides, I was able to order all three. The French fries were pretty basic shoestring fries, but they were kicked up a notch dipped in the leftover sauce that dripped off the wings. The Asian slaw was an interesting take on coleslaw. It wasn’t made with traditional mayonnaise-based dressing, but rather an Asian vinaigrette, that had subtle notes of rice vinegar. And the butter rice was soft and, as the name implies, buttery. The mild taste complemented the super spicy house wings pretty well.
Simplicity is the winning factor with Bok Bok Chicken. Menus don’t need to weigh in at a few pounds. The best restaurants execute just a handful of selections with perfection, and Bok Bok Chicken is no exception.
BOK BOK CHICKEN
Where: 648 E. State Road, Ste N, American Fork
Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays
Cost: $1.25-$17.99
