LOS ANGELES _ Growing up, I celebrated birthdays with Power Rangers-themed slumber parties or outings to Chuck E. Cheese's. In my early 20s, I often spent them at a slightly too-expensive restaurant and then went and drank slightly too much at a bar or club I probably wouldn't darken the door of anymore. But as I began to accept the mixed bag of realities that constitutes adulthood, I realized that when it comes to birthday parties, I could do what I please.
And what pleases me _ on any given Tuesday, not just once a year _ is fried chicken. I realized that one day a year I could let loose and try to get as close to all the fried chicken (not just one regional or cultural style) as possible. And that is how Jenn's Fried Chicken party, known in my inner circle as JFC _ started.
The idea is simple: Collect as much fried chicken from as many restaurants as possible under one roof, then spend the night devouring it. Instead of presents, I ask for chicken: Everyone who attends the party is responsible for bringing some from somewhere.
I supply the obligatory rest: homemade biscuits, mac 'n' cheese, a green salad as a reprieve to all the fat, whatever pie I'm currently obsessed with, and booze (normally copious amounts of bubbly, some rose and a new cocktail every year).
In the three years I've thrown the party, it's taken on a life of its own. Competitive friends try to one-up each other with their fried chicken (extra points to anyone who waits in line at Howlin' Ray's), there are fried chicken pool floaties, and the party has its own hashtag (#JFC).
What follows is a guide to throwing your own fried chicken party. Maybe it's for your birthday, or maybe you just want to do it some weekend night, because who in these times couldn't use the artery-hardening comfort of a survey of fried chicken, all washed down with scrubbing alcoholic bubbles, in the company of friends.
