Tejal Rao Digs the Chicken for Two, Hates the Music at Dirty French

Tejal Rao stops by Dirty French and despite her typical disdain for dishes that are served "for two," she enjoys the elaborate chicken presentation, which comes for two, in two services:

The chicken and crepes dish for two ($72) at Dirty French is something else. You will need a large table to comfortably hold the setup. The breast meat has been roasted and sliced beautifully, laid over some kind of creamy mustard sauce....The legs, which arrive separately, are poached slowly in chicken fat, then grilled. You'll want to pick them up with your fingers so you can work at the sweet, black, crackling skin, which tastes of kaffir lime leaves.

While the dish is strong, she points out, it isn't flawless: "If you set aside the technical issues with those crepes (they are useless, cold, and cracking within minutes, served in ridiculous scrolls of parchment paper) this is a very good chicken dish." A few other fail to impress, but overall, Rao says, "There is so much to enjoy at Dirty French if you're in mood to eat richly and speak loudly over the music, a relentless stream of '80s hits that seem picked by mediocre wedding DJ." The verdict: 2 stars.