Slide of the Week: March 9th, 2007
Pickin’ Chicken, Miami Beach, Florida, 1956
Macaroni and Cheese colored cabs standout against a wall of glass and sparkling signage soaring off a slab-sided, sign board-of-a-building into a humid sky. Heading right is a ‘54 Chevy; heading left, a ‘52 Plymouth. The glass is a mirror for the resort across the street. The eye-catching, electrified font is part modern, part old world. If the Fried Chicken is as inspired as the sign it’s out if this world! There is one hour free parking in the rear.
The other night I went to a fried chicken dinner party. Midway through the absolutely delicious feast, I over heard a fellow guest at the table say “On the way from Amsterdam to London I got a really bad charlie horse in my calf, it felt like I had been shot in the ankle and I collapsed to the ground in pain.
I responded, “Oh my gawd, you’re kidding. What a coincidence. The exact same thing happened to me. I was on my way from Disneyland to the Kodak Theater. I got a really bad charlie horse in my calf, it felt like I had been shot in the ankle and I collapsed to the ground in pain.
Everyone at the table was like “what?…what happened to you guys? We both explained.
About that time the hostess said to the lady sitting next to me “Is you husband on his way?”
She said “Oh, he’ll be here in an hour.” Sure enough an hour later he limps in moaning and groaning and plops down.
Everyone asked “what happened to you?”
He said “About an hour ago I was on my way from Griffith Park to this party and I got a really bad charlie horse in my calf. It felt like I had been shot in the ankle and I collapsed to the ground in pain.”
Everyone roared laughing.
Here to Pikin’ Chicken, charlie horses and YOU!
Charles Phoenix
Los Angeles
March 2007
14 Comments on “Pickin’ Chicken, Miami Beach, Florida, 1956”
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March 9th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
I feel really silly, but I read this slide four times and don;t understand the charlie horse story. Please explain why you all used the same excuse. Thanks!
March 9th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
I’m guessing the location is on 22nd St at the Ocean. Someone on EBAY is selling the menu from Pickin Chicken (just do a search)
March 9th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
Great story about the Charlie-horse. My favorite uncle was Charlie, but he was never a pain. Love the Pickin’ Chicken pic!
March 9th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Pickin’ Chicken Charles!
What better time to weigh back in with my helpful hints and handy tips than on this swoony slide? I just knew that Pickin’ Chicken would have free parking for the first hour. Now that’s the way to class up fried chicken! Or stewed or roasted or broasted … you get my pickin’ point, I’m sure. C’mon, a lady has to have some fun. Oh fun, how easy you are to be had when pickin’s around to keep you company! Any more pickin’s, I fear however, and I’ll lose my etiquette license.
I turn today to the fine and informative textbook, Experiences with Foods (L. Belle Pollard, 1956). As Mrs. Pollard herself writes, “Experiences with Foods is intended for high-school pupils beginning to study the planning, preparation, and serving of meals.” Too, too exciting! And what wondrous things about chicken are contained on page 227:
“Chicken and turkey have long been the mainstay of special meals – Sunday dinner, Thanksgiving, Christmas […] Poultry is sufficiently useful in the home meal to make it well worth the extra care required in selection and storage and the time consumed in preparation and serving.”
What a write up. Who isn’t heading to the store for chicken right now? But what chicken to choose? Back to Mrs. Pollard:
“A bird with a wide body, a broad, full-fleshed breast, and short, thick legs is the best choice. The crop should be empty because food in the crop may cause deterioration. Avoiding choosing a bruised bird or one with the skin reddened by poor bleeding.”
Just the kind of scintillating reading that a high-school student likes, no? And what’s a crop, you ask? It’s a pouch at the base of a chicken’s neck that bulges after the bird has eaten. It stores and prepares food for digestion. Ooo, I feel a bit woozy. You know what would make me feel better? A chicken quiz! Nuts! No quiz. There are however, a few chicken choices in the “Practicing and Evaluating” section:
4. Assist with the preparation of a chicken to roast. How would you shorten the time in preparing roast chicken again?
5. Help with the preparation of chicken for deep-fat frying. What are the important steps to follow for a tender product? (I bet the cooks at Pickin’ Chicken know!)
6. Help to fry a 3 ½ pound chicken, steaming the product part of the time. In what other ways could the chicken have been satisfactorily cooked?
7. Carve the breast of a bird, keeping the servings hot.
8. Find a poultry-combination recipe for a family of four adults. Estimate the cost. Compare with the cost of an entire serving of poultry for the same family.
Which pickin’ task will you take on this weekend?
xoxo!
Miss Sharon
March 9th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
I’m almost sure Pickin’ Chickin was “all you can eat” and included a bottomless bucket of biscuits - honey on the side. Or at least “all you can eat in one hour” since the free parking expires after that. There were some very nice hostesses roaming the room, covered containers of assorted chicken parts at the ready, and the California tourists were impressed enough to get a souvenir photo before returning home.
March 10th, 2007 at 12:16 am
oh my god i don’t get it at all and it bothers me so much. help!
March 11th, 2007 at 1:01 am
More erotic poultry. Love it even if it’s before my time and I’ve never been to Florida. That is, if The Keyes don’t count.
Carry on, charlie horse. Get a linament. Love.
March 11th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I’m not a genius but not stupid either, and I don’t get it!!!
March 12th, 2007 at 5:37 am
Looks like a popular spot for cabbies. Like the signage. Wierd about the charlie horses.
March 13th, 2007 at 10:11 am
stumbled across your site from NPR - I am in love
Gracias
March 16th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
When I opened that picture I was in shock. I ate masny times at Pickin’ Chicken in 1955-56. I was a little kid and we lived for the winter about 4 blocks from it on Ocean Drive. The apartment we lived in became half of Versace’s mansion. That was the best thing that could happen to it.
I believe Pickin’ Chicken was on Lincoln Road, later Lincoln Mall. They served a great chicken in the basket with honey and biscuits.
July 20th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
I’ll go you all one better…I worked as a hostess at this very Pickin’ Chicken. The owner was Joe Hart and he had a branch on 71st..21st st and one over in Miami at about 90th st. The chicken was served in a basket with french fries and they served a whopping big strawberry short cake. People stood in line to get in back in the 50’s. One of the Hart children grew up to be a Hollywood TV movie reporter known as Jeannie Wolf…Those were great times on Miami Beach…!!!
December 10th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I remember seeing a Pickin Chicken site in 1952 in Miami when I was 12.– never seen the like– enroute tolive in cuba. I was amazed to find another Pickin Chicken site in Havana just inside the suburb of Miramar. Wow. Pickin is everywhere.
John
June 25th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
MY favorite uncle was Charlie, too.
BUT he never had a horse.