by Kristen Wile

“Charlotte is just like chicken tenderland,” Gail Simmons, food writer and Top Chef judge, jokes at an interview ahead of the show’s premiere in Charlotte. 

Simmons, along with fellow judge Tom Colicchio and host Kristen Kish, spent several weeks in the city filming the show’s 23rd season, which recently wrapped up on Bravo. “I’m not being facetious, and I’m not against it. Yes, obviously it’s Bojangles territory and there’s Cookout, but then there’s all these people making really good [tenders]. I was never a chicken tenders person and Charlotte kind of converted me.” 

Like most restaurants with a kids’ menu, The Goodyear House offers chicken tenders as an entrée option for its youngest diners. The hand-breaded tenders have been a popular order — not only for kids, but their parents, too.

“We had so many people and adults ordering it off the kids’ menu,” Coleman says of the meal. “We want to give people what they want. We’re not going to tell them, ‘No, you can’t order off the kids’ menu.'”

The demand led The Goodyear House team to instead add the “tendies” to the regular lunch menu as a shared plate. The “tendies” are actually made with chicken thighs, providing a juicier meat.

“Obviously it’s a staple for kids,” Coleman says. “I think this is a larger trend right now — nostalgia, and things being safe — and I think chicken tenders are a safe order. They’re also super nostalgic.” 

Coleman believes that when times are tough, such as during a downturn in the economy like we’re seeing today, diners shift their spending to dishes that are familiar to them. When spending a dwindling amount of cash dining out, guests would rather order something they know you’ll enjoy instead of taking a risk on a new dish.

Haberdish, known for its fried chicken and chicken tenders, was recently named on Michelin’s debut list of recommended restaurants in Charlotte.

Tenders are a core part of the menu at Milkbread, a fast casual concept from Joe and Katy Kindred with locations in Davidson, Plaza Midwood, and Uptown. They come fried, grilled, or hot dipped, and can be added to salads and bowls. According to Joe Kindred, tenders were included on the original menu because the couple’s three kids love eating them. The restaurant was also born amidst the pandemic, another time when diners were seeking familiarity.

“During COVID, when we switched everybody over to Kindred and made everything to-go, we noticed the stuff that was selling more was comfort food,” Katy Kindred says. “That’s how the menu of Milkbread came to be, because it traveled better and it was more comfort food oriented.”

The restaurant provides a recipe to Motown Spice Provisions to produce the tenders’ breading, and the chicken is brined for at least 12 hours before being breaded and fried. Today, they’re one of the top three sellers at Milkbread, along with the fried chicken sandwich and donuts. 

Chicken tenders are showing up on menus across the city, so much so that their popularity here was noticed by the Top Chef judges as they dined across the city. And despite having the reputation of a kids’ dish, even the show’s seasoned cast enjoyed sampling tenders around the city.

“it’s just fun, and like who doesn’t love it?” Simmons says. “You can’t not love it when it’s done well.”

In nearby Plaza Midwood, Painted Rooster opened with a focus on wings, but quickly found the chicken tenders were the most popular draw. Restaurateur Jim Noble opened his first Bossy Beulah’s Chicken Shack, serving fried chicken sandwiches and tenders, in 2019 in West Charlotte. The concept now has six locations. Poppycox, a Nashville hot chicken spot that shifted from a food truck to an Optimist Hall food stall, lets guests order from a wide range of spice levels in their tender sauces. 

“Obviously we learned so much about barbecue and there’s some really exceptional restaurant…: Albertine and Kindred and L’Ostrica and Rada, and so many great chefs doing interesting things, but then also there’s great comfort,” Simmons says. “We’re like singlehandedly supporting the chicken tender industry.”

For a city that has long struggled with having an identifiable signature dish, chefs aren’t sold on the idea that chicken tenders might be it.

“I love Bojangles, but who doesn’t?” Coleman says. “I know I just said give people what they want, but come on, is it really going to be a chicken tender? Is that going to be our signature dish? That would make me feel sad. That would make me feel like we’re just a city full of like grown-up children — which I guess we kind of are.”

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