After initially declining to reveal his secret, chef/owner Chad Harris finally disclosed that the chicken is painted with a "paste" of house-rendered lard and cayenne. It's one of the crispiest fried chickens we've ever gnawed our way through; also the messiest, due to a double dry-cleaning threat of juices squirting from the flesh and spicy fat just kind of dripping, well, everywhere.
The cayenne brings the heat but never to the point that you need to stop eating, and we didn't. A mellow, creamy macaroni and cheese (made with Vella Daisy cheddar) rides sidecar, along with caraway-studded pickle chips that are to fried chicken what ginger is to sushi.Fremont Diner is only open until 3 p.m., meaning you might have to skip out on work to get some (you don't want to deal with weekend traffic anyway). Just don't rat us out for being your enabler.
Fremont Diner: 2660 Fremont (at S. Central), Sonoma, 707-938-7370.
