'It's Legit' — This Fried Chicken Stood Out To Guy Fieri On Triple D

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Guy Fieri has created a distinguished career built on mom and pop diners, greasy spoons, and his frosted-tipped lifestyle. While some detractors may think he's a little corny, it must be hard to produce a show for 20 years — "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" — without ruffling a few feathers and occasionally hitting viewers with a bit of metaphorical cheese. Sure, there are some cringy moments on DDD, but Fieri has traveled the country from coast to coast, much of it in the South, so it's probably fair to trust him on a good fried chicken. And this one not only made the Mashed list of best fried chicken in every state, but it's also some of the best fried chicken ever featured on DDD, and that says a lot about quality. And it might be even more impressive coming from a locale known more for elk steaks than fried chicken.

On an episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives," Guy Fieri had very kind words for Roost Fried Chicken in Bozeman, MT. He called its signature fried chicken "Really tasty," And told chef and co-owner, Mike Buck, "It's legit, man." Part of the Roost Fried Chicken segment can be seen on Food Network's Facebook, where we get to see behind the scenes of how to make its "legit" chicken, and a lot of it has to do with how it's cooked.

Roost Fried Chicken was the brainchild of husband and wife, Susanna and Joe Darr, who originally found a second home in Bozeman on fly fishing vacations, when they noticed there was no Southern food." The Darrs and Chef Buck teamed up to bring something new and delicious to the community, and patrons agree.

Much of the beauty of Roost's crunchy, perfectly moist fried chicken comes from how it's cooked. It starts with a house made "red rub" mixture of salt and spices that is sprinkled on the chicken and refrigerated to let the meat imbibe the flavors for 24 to 48 hours. But, after a dredge, rather than using a traditional deep fryer, Roost cooks it in a pressure fryer. As Chef Buck explains, "When you seal [the pressure cooker] up, it... causes the chicken to break down faster, so I can cook it at a lower temperature for less time, with less grease."

The result is light on the oil, but super crispy and tender. As Fieri put it, "Delicious... with that red rub. The flavor worked its way into that chicken. It's juicy; it's tender. You're not fighting through a bunch of batter. You've got just enough on there for the crunch." With some bacon-cooked collard greens and some skin-on mashed potatoes, it makes the perfect Southern dish, all the way up in Montana. And their chicken and waffles are pretty darned well appreciated, too.