Cousin's Tasty Chicken (Grand Rapids, MI)

I've driven past Cousin's Tasty Chicken hundreds of times in the past two years, but never bothered to step inside. Sola Cepa is both a passion and a calling, as well as an excuse to wander into random restaurants near my house and eat onion rings. Each venture is yet another opportunity of wonder and discovery, or one for a ruinous defeat. It's naught but a spin of the dice, or a gamble between the red and the black. But either way, one always gets to eat onion rings.

Here's a review of onion rings from Cousin's Tasty Chicken.

Presentation and Appearance: 3/5 

As might be expected, the presentation of these onion rings is basic and no-frills. Resting atop a small cardboard tub, within a larger styrofoam box, they are heaped haphazardly into a pile. When I opened the box, a couple of rings had slid out of the box into the (delicious) spicy chicken tenders, but that could have been my own lack of care in transporting the goods. There was no paper lining covering the cardboard, which is a bit outside the norm, but I didn't miss it.

The appearance of the onion rings is, similarly, nothing special, nothing awful. The batter is reasonably consistent, but a close examination reveals some minor splotches and gaps in the batter, and some extra crumbles mixed around. While this always speaks well to the quality of the onion rings (in terms of a clearer sign of hand-battered and home made), it does cause some problems in the appearance.

Taste: 4/5

I should preface this by saying my onion rings weren't piping hot, as I'd ordered them for pick-up some time in advance of my coming, but I can hardly fault Cousin's Tasty Chicken for that.

The onion rings weren't overly greasy, and indeed, were hardly greasy at all. My first tentative bite revealed a vivid and surprising amount of juicy, strong onion flavor. The onions may well have been seasoned before they were fried, or else the fry time was just sufficient to give them a good burst of flavor with each bite. They were tasty, without being overwhelming.

The batter, likewise, was well seasoned. It wasn't mind-blowing, but it did add a pleasant layer of flavor on-top of the already present juicy onions. The accompanying ranch sauce was fairly overpowering, and any dips completely overshadowed the more subtle flavors of the onion rings, and was not especially complementary.

Texture: 3.5/5

While the onions had a wonderfully juicy taste, it came at the expense of the occasionally mushy, overdone onion within. While they weren't the norm, even a few in a small batch of onion rings can be detrimental to the experience. The same applies to slippage. Although it was only two or three times, proportionally, it's extreme.

Besides the bouts of slippage, however, the batter had an excellent texture. The integrity of the ring remained even when manipulated or squeezed for consumption, with the exception the dreaded slippage alluded to above. It was soft, with more of a subtle pop than a loud crunch, as my teeth split into the pocket of air between the onion and the batter.

Value: 5/5

For a reasonably sized portion of good tasting, well-textured onion rings, I only paid $1.99, which is practically a steal. While they weren't perfect, and I could almost always use more onion rings, I'd be hard pressed to say they're anything but a top-notch value.

Total: 15.5/20