It doesn’t get much more rustic New England than this. We are on Great Road in Stowe, Massachusetts at a one of a kind business called Nan’s Rustic Kitchen and Market and this truly is a unique spot. It’s part restaurant part takeout part convenience store, part organic wine shop, part coffee shop and part everything you can think of that’s delicious, especially if you love fried chicken.

“They say necessity is the mother of invention, right?  They don’t have a Sweet Green in the suburbs.  They don’t have a good, or any of these healthy, fast casual restaurants.And if they’re working from home and living at home, they probably want to eat well, quickly. We really centered this around our farmhouse fried chicken. That was really where it started. And then the whole retail portion of it was that if you love my food enough to eat it at my table, why wouldn’t you love it at yours? People will always need someone else to cook for them. Because either A. don’t know how to cook or B. don’t want to or sometimes both. The thought was that we wanted to really focus on you know, the products that were the most important to pick wisely. We wanted to focus on grass fed and organic meats, a small but purposeful selection of vinegars and oils, a small but purposeful selection of cheeses, charcuterie. So specialty products meets lifestyle brand. And to be honest, the story’s not over.  We’re still trying to figure it out.”

The top selling item is definitely Nan’s original fried chicken. Forget about the Colonel’s 11 herbs and spices. This must have dozens of them because it is so insanely delicious.

This is half a full chicken. It is antibiotic and hormone free. It has a very crispy semolina crust.  It’s fried slowly and some sunflower seed oil dusted with some farmhouse spices. Little agave drizzle and a mild Aleppo pepper and has some buttermilk in there. I’m telling you right now you will crunch it, you will bite it. It will juice all over your face. You’re going to lick your fingers and you’re going to be so happy that you have made the decision to get yourself a family style fried chicken that you’re probably going to eat all by yourself.

“It starts with eat better chicken, right? And the the quality of the chicken is incredible to begin with. Right. So you start with that. And then really, it’s all about the spices. And I wish I could tell you more about that but then I would have to kill you.”

And if you want to spice things up you get the Nansville hot chicken. Not Nashville. Nansville Hot chicken. What does that mean? Well, it’s the equivalent of Nashville style hot chicken but it has a New England twist. It is fried ultra crispy, very spicy but not too spicy again has that buttermilk to make it extra crispy, extra delicious, but honestly you don’t even feel that guilty after you eat it.

Now you know this is high quality fried chicken and you know why not just from the look in from the taste but you actually need to order it two hours in advance. Yes every order of fried chicken is made to order.  You order it family style you get into these to go boxes but here’s the thing, you need to order it two hours in advance Why? Because they make every single one of these orders to order.

“People at first were like, what, that’s crazy. I’m like, well, we don’t we don’t hold the chicken, you know, fried chickens, like math, we can only do it takes 20 minutes to cook.  We take all of our orders online and then you’re always welcome to walk in. Other popular family style meals they have a great country style roasted chicken. Look at this beauty. I mean, you can’t wait to just dive into that one.”

For a little bit of seafood get the roasted Arctic salmon.  This thing is big an absolutely beautiful. And if you have a family full of meat eaters get the seared urban garlic marinated flank steak This is like two pounds of beautiful steak that is brushed with garlic and salted mustard and fresh herbs and cooked just the way you like it.

You also get your vegetables with it. And the vegetables are insane. Each one is better than next. Green beans, carrots, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, kale salad, sweet potatoes, every single one of them maximum flavor with all kinds of interesting toppings and sauces. Get some potatoes and their absolutely incredible hot fresh buttermilk biscuits that are made throughout the entire day.

“We’re about vegetables. They’ll change seasonally we have 12 to 14 vegetable sides. And we treat them really well and and dealing with vegetables is honestly the biggest step for the home cook right it’s easy to throw some steaks on the grill. But what about everything else, that’s what takes the time. So we really felt that leaning into the vegetables was going to be a good move. And it seems to work.”

At lunchtime, you can come in here, get a bowl, get a salad get a really killer Cuban sandwich like this one right here. Nice and pressed and crusty and cheesy. Delicious.

The entire world has gotten fried chicken sandwich crazy. And this is why this is the sandwich everyone in the world should be talking about. Not Popeye’s. Not Chik Fil A. The Nan’s chicken sandwich.

So this is definitely Southern style.  Has some smoky spicy mayonnaise in there. The slaw on top is what really puts this thing over the top.  It is a slaw of some shaved cabbage and broccoli and kale and brussel sprouts. And I know that sounds like a whole bunch of healthy stuff. But it’s going on a fried chicken sandwich and it’s incredibly good.

Take a bite of this sandwich and it has everything you’re looking for.  The ultra crispy exterior, the juicy inside the soft bun, the spice from the sauce, those fresh veggies that just pop that flavor up. I’m telling you right now, chicken sandwiches don’t get any better than that. And if they do, I will literally move wherever they serve it.

Talk about a unique place. Nan’s really has it all you can come here for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can eat healthy, you can eat kind of unhealthy, you can get stuff for your kids. If you come in in the morning, you will get one of the best cups of coffee you will find this entire area.  Their coffee program is honestly incredible. Awesome breakfast sandwiches as well got myself a little egg and cheese wrapped. They do a really good job. Fluffy, big hearty, delicious, fresh organic like everything here.

So whether you come for a cup of coffee, or a bottle of organic wine, a healthy kale salad, or an indulgent box of fried chicken, you can do it all right here at Nan’s.