In the former Chez Maman space halfway up Potrero Hill comes Dat Spot Rotisserie & Comfort Food, a dubiously named but spirited restaurant that opened only last week but is already churning out high-quality Southern food, including one of the best fried chicken sandwiches I've ever had.
The menu is a little all over the place, in the kind of way that shows enthusiasm and a host of skills. You can get highfalutin things like roasted bone marrow and fontina fondue, comfort foods from various cultures (matzo ball soup, mac 'n' cheese with bacon and Brussels sprouts), a nutritious Bloomsdale spinach salad, and heavy desserts such as pecan pie or bread pudding. While the clams casino was pitifully small (only four clams, and they tasted only of bacon and herbed bread crumbs), everything else was oversized and delicious.
And Dat Spot's fried chicken sandwich is served on waffles. The chicken is juicy and perfectly crispy, and even though it's a messy affair — easy to bite the chicken out of the sandwich, leaving the waffle and slaw behind — I would readily pedal my tush up that hill for it anytime. I went on a fried chicken odyssey several months ago, and it would easily be in the upper quintile of the places I reviewed.
The name is trying a little hard to be hip-and-with-it (especially in context of tony Potrero Hill), and it belies the fact that Dat Spot isn't a grab-and-go lunch counter but a serious endeavor. The space is small — you have to slalom through the kitchen with multiple "Excuse me"'s to get to the restroom — but while the tables are hemmed in tightly, they're nicely laid out and the angled mirror does some heavy lifting to make the place seem bigger. Plus there's a zaftig Uncle Sam along one wall clutching a drumstick and saying, "I want you to eat more," Yes, sir. Will do.
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