Washington Heights Mourns Beloved Fried Chicken Joint
February 28, 2011
WaHi residents voiced their dismay after a neighborhood fried chicken restaurant closed down without warning.
By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — In New York City, restaurants come and restaurants go.
But when a beloved neighborhood haunt that has been serving up delectable dishes for after school and late night cravings for years serves its last meal, a neighborhood mourns.
And so it was when New Caporal Fried Chicken and Shrimp at 3772 Broadway, between 156th and 157th streets, shuttered its doors with little warning on Friday.
Twitter users from Washington Heights spent the weekend lamenting the end of Caporal, the place called an “uptown landmark” by Inwood native and writer Claudio Cabrera last year.
“Ode to The Caporal Chicken spot in Washington Heights,” tweeted Rammer. “The 157th subway train stop will never smell the same.”
“Did Caporal Chicken in The Heights close??? // Yup. #rip Caporal. Another legend of #theheights leaves us,” wrote Twitter user kupiart.
Caporal’s fried food was a thing of legend and culinary exaltation: crispy, tender and more importantly, cheap.
The restaurant's snack box, featuring three pieces of fried chicken and enough French fries to feed a small family, cost less than $5.
Describing the chicken snack box, one admirer wrote on Yelp, "If you could contain all the good in the world (Puppies, Rainbows, Leprechauns, Unicorns, Baby Jesus, Gold, Hugs, etc...) it would be boxed up, placed in a brown bag, and handed back to you as a New Caporal Snack Box. True Story."
Although most were sad to see the loss of another Upper Manhattan classic, some were able to find the silver lining.
“The passing of caporal fried chicken hurts,” tweeted ergface, “but on the bright side it may extend some lifetimes out here in #WaHI.”
By Carla Zanoni, DNAinfo.com
Follow Carla on Twitter @carlazanoni
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