The Current | Vol. 31 Issue 24

March 2, 2021 | nsucurrent.nova.edu 5 Features Gill Out: Chick’nCone Fort Lauderdale By: Sofia Gallus Arts & Entertainment Editor Chick’nCone Fort Lauderdale 920 N Flagler Dr Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304 $ NSU is a unique and lively campus, but that doesn’t mean that Sharks can’t band together and take an afternoon to explore the South Florida area — even if that just means finding a quaint place to study Want to try a classic southern staple with a twist? Enter: Chick’nCone. Chick’nCone Fort Lauderdale is a small air-fried chicken joint located in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Their menu, while small, provides a variety of quality southern inspired chicken based meals. All of their food, minus their homemade mac n’ cheese, is air fried instead of deep fried. This change not only makes their food healthier, but reduces the amount of grease in your meal, which I really enjoyed. Unlike some places that air fry instead of deep fry, the flavor isn’t sacrificed, and all of their food is seasoned with cajun seasoning or one of their several custom sauces. Chick’nCone offers three classic chicken entrees: chicken tenders, chicken and waffles and a chicken sandwich. Chick’nCone puts a twist on their menu, however; their chicken and waffles option is chicken placed in a handmade waffle cone, fresh off of the griddle. This menu item gives the restaurant its namesake: Chick’nCone. Chick’nCone also offers two options for sides and additives to their entrees: air fried cajun fries or homemade mac n’ cheese. They also offer seven sauces to coat your chicken in, four of which are custom made in-house. Their menu is also pretty affordable. In truth, I’ve been to Chick’nCone a few times before. I’ve always gotten the Chick’nSandwich, which is really good, albeit a bit hard to eat because of the size of the chicken. Unless you get the Chick’nTenders, Chick’nCone’s chicken is cut and sized almost like chicken nuggets. Because of this, if you order the Chick’nSandwich, you have to be careful when you’re eating to make sure the chicken pieces do not fall out. This time, I was determined to try their signature meal: the Chick’nCone. I ordered the classic Chick’nCone with their “Yella BBQ” sauce, a sauce that is similar to honey barbeque, but with some heat. I also got a side of the air- fried cajun fries, which I’ve gotten before and are perfectly crispy and seasoned every time. The Chick’nCone was really good. I had absolutely no complaints about it. It was filling, but not too filling so that you couldn’t finish the rest of your meal. They give you a perfect amount of food so that you can feel full and still be able to walk to your car without hobbling. The “Yella BBQ” sauce was divine and definitely my favorite out of the ones I’ve tried. I think that if you want to order the Chick’nCone specifically, the sweetness of the honey barbeque helps tie the sweetness of the cone and the savory of the chicken together. The thing I found most surprising about ordering the Chick’nCone was that it was surprisingly mobile. In post-pandemic times, I could definitely see myself ordering a Chick’nCone and walking around to explore the area. They give you a little wooden fork to eat the chicken with, and you can eat the waffle cone like any regular waffle cone. Another great part about going to Chick’nCone is the ambiance. The staff is so friendly and high energy, and the restaurant is located in an area with several other fun downtown businesses. There are several boutiques, dessert and coffee spots and murals that echo the feel of exploring the Wynwood art district. Chick’nCone offers cute and cozy outdoor seating that is perfect for watching the sun set above the cityscape. While this small chicken joint is a 20-minute drive from campus, the amazing food paired with the ambiance makes it worth it. This little restaurant is definitely one of my favorites and a place I hope to visit a lot more often while I’m living at NSU. They’re also available for delivery on DoorDash, which is perfect if you want to give them a try and don’t have transportation. Got beef with beef? Here’s the scoop on meat substitutes From convincing “bleeding” burgers to the recent online trend of making “chicken” with flour (see Seitan below), there’s plenty of meat substitutes on the market. However, with so many options becoming more and more readily available, this comes with an increasing amount of products and ingredients to keep track of. Whether you’ve got beef with beef or you just want to know what you’re ordering the next time you go to that hip restaurant with your vegan friend, here are a few common meat substitutes and what they’re made of. Seitan Seitan (say-tan) is a fairly common meat substitute made from gluten, a protein in wheat. If you’ve seen the viral videos of people “washing” flour and water, that’s removing the starch from the flour to create seitan or something similar. Seitan can also be made with purchased wheat gluten, which skips a few steps. It tends to have a fairly dense and chewy texture, lending itself to meatless sausages and chicken. Mycoprotein Mycoprotein was arguably popularized by the company Quorn, known for meat substitutes such as meatless nuggets and fishless sticks. According to the company, mycoprotein is made by fermenting fungi and is considered to be sustainable due to the lower amount of land and water required to produce it. However, there are some reported problems with the consumption of mycoproteins associated with allergic reactions. TVP TVP, a common name for “textured vegetable protein,” is a complete protein made from defatted soy flour, according to Bob’s Red Mill, a popular brand for meat substitute ingredients. It usually comes dried and requires rehydration and seasoning, but the result is similar to a ground meat texture. It’s great in dishes like tacos and casseroles or it can be turned into burgers. Tempeh Tempeh is made from fermented soybeans. Unlike tofu, which normally has a pretty homogenous texture, you’ll find you can usually identify the beans in a block of tempeh. It usually has a bit more bite, and when marinated, can somewhat mimic bacon or can be crumbled to resemble ground meat. However, tempeh is also great seasoned as its own ingredient. Tofu This may be controversial, but perhaps the most commonly known “meat substitute” isn’t really always meant to mimic meat. Tofu is great on its own as its own ingredient. Many haters of tofu cite the texture as a reason for their dislike, and oftentimes, tofu frankly isn’t that similar to meat. While there are plenty of methods to better mock meat, like freezing or draining it, it’s great on its own, fried, scrambled or grilled. PHOTO OBATINED FROM S. GALLUS Chick’nCone Meal By: Madelyn Rinka Co-Editor-in-Chief PHOTOS OBTAINED FROM UNSPLASHED.COM Meat subsitutes