Maryland Fried Chicken in business for 50 years

ALBANY — Located auspiciously on the 500 block of North Slappey Boulevard, where it has served fresh food fast for the past 50 years, Maryland Fried Chicken, an icon of the Albany restaurant scene, has weathered the test of time and tastebuds with its traditional Southern menu of pure deliciousness.

Owners, and brothers, Jason and Scott Renfroe attribute the success of the central Albany eatery to the vision of their grandparents, who originally opened the business, and to patrons of the community, who they say recognize quality ingredients, great taste and down-home, local hospitality in a world increasingly dominated by corporate restaurants and industrial food preparation techniques.

“Our grandparents, Charlie and Vera King, started this in 1968,” Jason Renfroe said while sitting in a corner both of Maryland’s quaint dining room. “My grandfather, when he got out of the Army, went to Auburn on the GI Bill. After college, he started working for Sears as an accountant. My grandmother always said he had high blood pressure when he worked for Sears; the headaches of being an accounting manager.

“They were living in Macon at the time, and he was looking in the TV Guide. There was a card insert in there for a Maryland Fried Chicken franchise. So he looked at it and decided 20 years with Sears was enough. He took all of his retirement money, bought a franchise and moved from Macon to Albany. They had never been here before, but they came, selected this spot and opened the store in 1968.”

The restaurant, whose staple dish is fried chicken, offers a variety of other taste sensations, including fish, shrimp, tater tots, fried green tomatoes and more.

“We have a lot of loyal customers,” Renfroe said. “A lot. And they come back because the food is fresh, not frozen, it’s affordable, our prices are some of the most competitive in town, and most important of all, our food is really good.”

Renfroe was quick to suggest the house specialty, a buffalo chicken strip meal with tots, coleslaw and a roll.

“The most popular thing that we sell, believe it or not, is a buffalo strip dinner,” Renfroe said. “It has boneless chicken strips, like tenders, dipped in our buffalo sauce that we created here. The sauce is very popular. We now have it made just for us, have people come from all over to get it, and sometimes we sell it by the gallon.

“Our coleslaw is also made fresh. That meal is our most popular item by far. Everybody that tries it likes it. We have never had anyone say that it wasn’t good.”

Scott Renfroe disappeared into the kitchen, returning a little less than 10 minutes later with a steaming box full of golden perfection.

The chicken strips, cut thin, breaded, deep-fried and dipped in a deceptively sweet buffalo sauce, were both savory and textured on the palate, providing an explosion of sweet and heat. The heat, disguised initially, revealed its spice only as an after-taste.

The tater tots, cooked crisp on the exterior, but retaining the moist center, evoked an emotion of happiness reminiscent of childhood, as only fried potatoes can.

Rounding out the meal, the made-from-scratch coleslaw, a basic setup of cabbage, carrot and mayo, provided a light and refreshing balance that cleansed the taste-buds before the next strip.

Add a roll in there, some blue cheese or ranch, and you have a meal that will rival any other proprietor of poultry around and, chances are, for a better price.

Maryland Fried Chicken is located at 510 North Slappey Blvd. and recently opened a second store at 1926 Martin Luther King Drive. Both stores are open daily from 10:30 a.m until 10 p.m.

For more information or menu items, call (229) 432-9595.