Mike M.
Yelp
My sister in law is always on the hunt for up and coming brunch spots, and she found an absolute gem with Scratchboard Kitchen in Arlington Heights. It's located in a little downtown area surrounded by a bunch of nice looking restaurants to eat at. Although the inside looks pretty small, they actually have a decent amount of seating closer to the back. Additionally, they had plenty of outdoor seating along the sidewalk. I really liked the vibe inside. It could've easily been a brunch place you'd find in the city with it's minimalistic industrial chic décor sprinkled with pops of green from assorted plants throughout the place. They were a farm to table menu that made everything from scratch.
After briefly scanning over the menu, I knew exactly what I wanted to get: the fried chicken sandwich. Even before this whole chicken sandwich craze swept the nation, I've always been a sucker for deep fried meat for breakfast, whether it's chicken and waffles, country fried steak, or fried chicken biscuits. The fried chicken sandwich at Scratchboard Kitchen might possibly be my favorite fried chicken sandwich around.
Usually I'm not a huge fan of biscuits in general because they're typically too dry on the outside and have such a one toned flavor, but I absolutely loved the biscuit here. This biscuit didn't need any type of country gravy or sauce to carry the flavor. One piece of the biscuit by itself was delicious with such a savory bite. It definitely had more than just butter in it. I can't tell exactly what it was but there were elements of cheese, ranch, and herbs like rosemary or thyme or something. It almost tasted like a gourmet cheddar bay biscuit.
Surprisingly the biscuit was the star of the sandwich for me, but all the other elements were also legit. While the piece of chicken could've been bigger, at least you could tell they didn't use those massive chicken cuts pumped with hormones and water. This piece of chicken was extra crispy on the outside and had a nice seasoning in the breading. The meat was ultra juicy and seemed to be pure thigh meat. The pimiento cheese gave a nice sharp Merkt's cheddar type of flavor, and the spicy version of the sandwich added some sort of hot chili oil to mix with the mayo. I'm not even mad that it didn't have an egg on it. It was perfect as it was.
We also tried some of the other items on the menu as well. The Dutch baby and gravy was a unique spin on the traditional biscuits and gravy. It was almost like a gravy soup in a flaky pastry bowl with an egg on top. While it was tasty, their biscuits are so damn good that I would've just preferred a ranch biscuit that gravy on top. That would've been a killer combo. The grits were super cheesy and creamy, and I'm surprised they aren't are more common item on brunch menus around here because they were awesome. The short rib hash was good, but a bit on the pricier side.
Overall, Scratchboard Kitchen was an absolute win in my book. I'm glad we tried a variety of the menu items, but next time I'll definitely focus on the fried chicken sandwich, which is hands down the MVP of the menu.