Friday Food: The Nugget Spot

On Saturday I met Trent and Alisha in the East Village at The Nugget Spot for lunch. I had seen it mentioned on Gothamist a few weeks ago, and the premise of a restaurant devoted entirely to chicken nuggets seemed to good to resist. Their menu is limited, but to the point: chicken, fish or pork breaded with pretzels, Cheez-Its, Cap'n Crunch or southern fried, with a variety of dipping sauces to choose from. I chose Cheez-Its because it sounded intriguing and Trent and Alisha both got southern fried (all of us got chicken).

The Cheez-It-breaded nuggets were definitely a hit, and much preferred over the southern fried. They were salty and a little cheesy and tasted basically exactly how you would imagine Cheez-It-breaded nuggets to taste: delicious. The dipping sauces left a little to be desired, which is unfortunate since nuggets are really just a vehicle for the real star of the show: the sauce. I ordered the red pepper ranch and honey mustard (one sauce is included, 75 cents for each additional). The honey mustard wasn't as creamy as I prefer, and the red pepper ranch was a little bland.

The portions are large (I think there were 8ish nuggets, I don't remember exactly), but a few of my chicken pieces were a little funky. I'm a bit weird about eating meat sometimes, so when I get a stray tendon or a less than tender piece it really puts a damper on my whole meal. The restaurant is very tiny, has very limited seating (a few stools) and a few stand up tables. If you can grab a seat it's not a bad place to eat, but otherwise I'd treat it more as a grab-and-go place, especially if you have a large group.

Trent, Alisha and I all agreed that it was a tasty lunch, but that we probably wouldn't go out of our way to eat there again. I'm intrigued by the Cap'n Crunch breading, and to a lesser degree the pretzel, so I wouldn't mind trying them just out of curiosity. If I lived nearby I'd probably stop in occasionally, but I probably won't be making a special trip to the Nugget Spot again anytime soon.