food+drink
‘Gayest Chicken Possible’ Chic Full Gay supports Pride Center of Vermont and budding businesses with a popular pop-up BY J O R D AN BAR RY • jbarry@sevendaysvt.com
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SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021
JAMES BUCK
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ast week was a big one in national fried chicken sandwich news. On February 24, McDonald’s rolled out its new crispy chicken sandwich, becoming the latest chain to scratch its way into the chicken sandwich pecking order. A taste test in Business Insider declared the new offering “almost identical” to Chickfil-A’s version, which is generally credited with kicking off the tender trend. But why drive to Plattsburgh, N.Y., and support the morally decrepit Chick-fil-A chain — with its history of charitable donations to anti-LGBTQ organizations — when there’s a local version that has all the fastfood options beat? Enter Chic Full Gay. The perfectly named pop-up is the work of Bryan Gildersleeve, the chef at Burlington’s St. Paul Street Gastrogrub, which hosts Chic Full Gay twice a month. When Gastrogrub closed in December 2020 for renovations, Gildersleeve, 32, looked for an income source. Early concepts included Piled High Stoner Sandwiches and Let’s Get Smashed Burgers & Fries, but the one that ruled the roost was Chic Full Gay. “I had no idea it would blow up so hard,” Gildersleeve said with a laugh. “But I have a passion for chicken sandwiches — always have — and it’s taking on Chick-fil-A for being homophobic, pointing the finger.” While lots of chicken sandwiches are available around town, Gildersleeve pointed out, a focus on chicken is unusual. Chic Full Gay offers three sandwich variations and a smattering of sides, snacks and sweets. The OG sandwich — with “shrettuce,” housemade dill pickles and buttermilk aioli — stays the same from pop-up to pop-up; the spicy and the deluxe versions rotate toppings. (All of the sandwiches can be made vegan with a substitution of fried oyster mushrooms from St. Albans-based FUNJ. Shrooming.) Each sandwich comes with a full potato’s worth of ultra-flavorful barbecue potato wedges. For my first Chic Full Gay experience in early February, I went for the deluxe. The fermented honey mustard caught my eye, along with candied bacon, cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce, tomato and “quickled” red onions. Gildersleeve (who uses gender-neutral pronouns) is big into fermentation and
IT’S TAKING ON CHICK-FIL-A FOR BEING HOMOPHOBIC, POINTING THE FINGER. BRYAN GIL D E R S L E E VE
buttermilk, pickle juice, smoked paprika, garlic and dill. Rather than add salt to the brine or the dredge — a gluten-free combo of rice flour and potato starch — they season the chicken when it’s fresh out of the fryer. Gildersleeve saves the pointed chicken ends for a community dinner at the end of each pop-up, offering free fare to 25 to 30 homeless and food-insecure people in the area. “That’s been really helping my mental health state during quarantine,” they said. “Helping people.” Chic Full Gay’s community contribution goes beyond the free dinners; it has raised more than $800 so far for the Pride Center of Vermont. The next pop-up, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, March 8 and 9, will also benefit the Burlington-based LGBTQ+ community center. The upcoming event is a collaboration with Black Rose Briar, Sarah Howley’s gluten-free bakery (see page 42). “We’re going to blast Queen and hand out condoms and dental dams [provided by the Pride Center] and chicken and cookies,” Howley said. “I don’t think there’s a better night, honestly.” Howley and Gildersleeve are longtime friends, and Gildersleeve has offered Black Rose Briar’s sweet treats at past pop-ups. Chic Full Gay regularly features other budding businesses with shared values and friendships, such as Ian Hood’s Arcana Botanica DIY “infuse-your-own-booze” kits (see page 42) and baked goods from Angel Suarez’s Mad Spaniard Baking. Hood bartends, and Bryan Dunn and Tucker DiMasi help out in the kitchen. “I want to support my friends and grow their business models and their brands with my brand,” Gildersleeve said. “It’s evolved into this whole community thing.”
OG chicken sandwich ‘GAYEST CHICKEN POSSIBLE’
preservation; their experimentation in that realm, evident throughout the menu, will be a big part of the restaurant they eventually hope to open. The honey mustard combined a sweet-savory fermented garlic honey with mustard and mayo for an extrapunchy take on the classic dressing. Besides being packed with flavor and perfectly cooked — crispy on the outside and juicy in the middle — this chicken
sandwich was the biggest I’d ever seen. Fair warning: These things are huge. “I like a nice fat piece of chicken,” said Gildersleeve, who was head chef at Citizen Cider for several years and worked part time at Misery Loves Co. before taking over at Gastrogrub. Gildersleeve cuts the pointed ends off the chicken breast before butterflying it and taking the Southern-style approach:
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