After seeing that Howlin’ Rays line, I had fried chicken on my mind. Somehow the stars aligned, and the very next day when went to A-Frame, it happened to be All-You-Can-Eat Chicken Sunday. If this was a sign from above, I wasn’t going to ignore it, throwing health-conscious eating to the winds.

Roy Choi of Kogi Taco Truck fame, opened A-Frame in an old IHOP restaurant. The interior was stylishly redone; it’s hard to believe that it formerly housed the famed pancake purveyor. A couple of years ago, A-Frame revamped its menu to a Hawaiian theme, though I would say it was more “pan-Asian” with a poke, spam musubi and loco moco thrown in for good measure. The furikake kettle corn still remains on the menu – mixing popcorn and Corn Pops with seaweed – an addictive snack that pairs well with a glass of beer. On Sunday nights, a pitcher of Dos Equis lager is a mere $12, should you wish for a libation of the beer variety to help wash down your meal.

For $23 a person ($13 for kids under 12), you can get the All-You-Can-Eat Chicken meal with three different kinds of chicken, salad, corn on the cob, Hawaiian rolls and fries. The Farmer Salad came first, mostly romaine with a piece of mango and orange here and there, tossed in a citrus vinaigrette. It wasn’t too exciting, but I still got seconds of it while I was waiting for the main show.

The server dumped out a platter of chicken, fries, rolls and corn right onto the paper-topped table, much like a clambake. I had originally planned to order the famous Cracklin’ Beer Can Chicken, which was only available as part of the All-You-Can-Eat Chicken dinner on Sunday night. The outside was crisp, but to my disappointment, the meat was dry. Maybe it was an off batch, but if it had been my meal, I would have been an unhappy camper. Luckily there was an array of sauces to assist with making it more palatable.

The mochiko chicken, battered chunks of boneless chicken, were much better, but my favorite were the Korean chicken wings. Normally Korean wings are pretty spicy, but these weren’t, the chicken moist. Surprisingly, the corn was really good, sweet and juicy, and the fries with togarashi spice were a challenge to stop eating. Our party of three got a couple of additional rounds of chicken, before calling it quits.

If gorging yourself on chicken doesn’t appeal, there’s a cheeseburger, ribs, ramen and poke (a more extensive dinner menu is offered on other days of the week). During the weekend brunch, A-Frame has All-You-Can-Eat Pancakes for $15, an homage to the previous tenant, which comes with mochiko fried chicken.

They’ll ask you if you’d like to take home the leftovers…so you might want to ask for one more serving a chicken before you’re done. In my book, fried chicken is even better the next day. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving.

Location – 12565 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90066
Website – http://www.aframela.com
Kid-Friendly – Yes
Kid’s Menu – No
Vegetarian/Vegan Friendly – Barely, mostly limited to starters (salad, yakisoba).
Gluten-Free Options – Yes

The lighting in A-Frame was quite dim on my visit, forcing me to rely on photos from A-Frame’s Twitter feed. It was either that or posting out-of-focus photos. I chose the former, rather than the latter, for the sake of preserving people’s vision.

(Note: A-Frame closed in December 2019.)