A Taste of Comfort at Hancock

Good fried chicken is an art. It has to have a crunchy and flavorful skin on the outside and moist, fall-off-the-bone meat on the inside. You would think that you would have to take a trip down south to find such a comfort, but look no farther than Wealthy St. in downtown Grand Rapids.

As of early March, Hancock has been open for business. As soon as word got out, I started seeing snapshots on Instagram stories of fried chicken, mac and cheese, thick waffle fries, and boozy drinks. Locals attention, like Ricky and myself, had taken notice and our mouths were watering.

When Ricky and I strolled in a couple of weeks ago, the humble, but aesthetically pleasing restaurant was full of our millennial peers. Above the chatter, Ricky and I selected from the menu a four-piece hot fried chicken plate, a hot chicken sandwich, a side of pimento mac and cheese, jalapeno cheddar corn bread, biscuits, a John Daly, and a house-made lemonade. Our meal came to $45 – not cheap, but we were eager to dig in.

Every single thing we ate at Hancock was delicious! The skin on the chicken was crunchy and savory with spice, the meat was juicy, and sauce on Ricky’s wings added an extra dimension of flavor. The mac and cheese was creamy as it should be, but also packed a little heat with the diced jalapenos in the mix. The cornbread also had jalapenos, which I didn’t really care for. However, this is a personal preference strictly because I have grown up with sweet cornbread. If I were to put my personal preference aside, I would have no complaints. As for the biscuits, they just really lacked luster – there was nothing special about them, especially since the two we had came out dry.

All in all, Ricky and I enjoyed our meal at Hancock! We loved what Hancock does best: chicken. Yet, when it came to our sides, we weren’t too impressed outside of the mac and cheese, but considering there are 12 other sides to choose from we’re not too bummed.

Check out Hancock at 1157 Wealthy St. SE.

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