Pendleton Chicken Impressions: CHX

Pendleton, a small neighborhood in downtown Cincinnati abutting Over-the-Rhine and across from Jack Casino (soon-to-be Hard Rock Casino), is in full-on gentrification mode, displacing many of the original families there; remodeling buildings; jacking up housing prices to ridiculous levels; and, most importantly, adding trendy restaurants so every young and pretty urbanite (or food blogger) with Instagram can share cool food photos. Hooray!

In just a couple years, Pendleton is now home to a clustered epicenter of impressive eateries, breweries, ice cream joints and coffee houses, including Nation Kitchen, Lucius Q, Boomtown Biscuits, Urbana Cafe, Pendleton Parlor and now, CHX, a fast-casual chicken joint that comes to us from the owners of its next-door-neighbor, 3 Points Urban Brewery.

The restaurant's adorable mascot looks an awful lot like Gudetama, the popular Japanese "lazy egg" cartoon character. If CHX's mascot owes its influence to Japan, then the question of "which came first" seems clear.

CHX Banty vs. Sammy

CHX's chicken is served in two main forms: as a sandwich or as a "banty," an egg-shaped hunk of fried chicken. The term "banty" is meant to describe the size of the nuggets and comes from the term, "bantam chickens", a miniature breed. The chicken breasts served on sandwiches can be either fried or grilled or folded into a house chicken salad (all $8), and each type offers a mild or hot style of seasoning. There are also taco salad and cobb salad options for $10.

Banties come in 4-piece, 6-piece and 8-piece options ranging in price from $7-$11, with two house-made hush puppies and a choice of one of CHX's six dipping sauces (ranch, remoulade, honey mustard, Korean BBQ, Buffalo and Memphis BBQ).

CHX also sells an appealing variety of "shareables," fairly large portions of sides meant for at least two people. These range in price from $2.50 to $8. They include crinkle-cut "wavy fries," dusted with a choice among three spice mixes (classic, BBQ and Cajun); lightly battered, crispy fried cheese curds; chicken nachos, hush puppies; and a creamy mac & cheese topped with toasted bread crumbs.

My girlfriend and I pulled into Jack Casino's parking lot, which is free on weekends. We then crossed the street and walked the few blocks to CHX for lunch. I ordered a 6-piece banty, hot style and a side of mac & cheese. My girlfriend chose the grilled, blackened sandwich with pepper jack cheese, lettuce and tomato, along with a side of classic-style wavy fries tossed with salt and cracked pepper. We then meandered into the large adjoining 3 Points Brewery tap room for a table.

Rear of 3 Points Urban Brewery

The ambiance at 3 Points Brewery is similar to many area tap rooms: warehouse-like, with an assortment of big screen TVs and a central bar area from which to order the brewery's dozen house beers. Sentinels of chrome fermentation tanks make up a quarter of the space. Children ran about, playing one of the indoor basketball arcade games, which raised a question: why is it generally accepted to allow children in tap rooms but not bars?

When our cell phone rang to indicate our order was ready, we retrieved our trays from the counter and returned to the tap room. An impressively huge sack of crinkle cut fries towered over our bowls of sandwich and banty goodness, along with a generously tall container of mac & cheese.

The fries were quite the hit between the two of us: bountiful, crispy, piping-hot and seasoned so well that we actually considered not dipping them in ketchup, albeit briefly. The mac & cheese was pleasantly cheesy and creamy, and while I'm usually not a big fan of bread crumb toppings, CHX's version was welcomingly toasty and buttery. The hush puppies were crispy and delightfully sweet and fluffy on the inside, with bits of corn mixed into the batter.

6-piece banty w/side of mac & cheese

Blackened chicken sandwich w/side of fries

The banties sported a dark amber, crispy, mildly spicy, cornmeal-based outer shell, each literally shaped like an extra-large egg. The chicken inside was tender and moist and paired well with my chile-spiced, slightly sweet Korean BBQ dipping sauce, offering an acerbically spicier kick to each bite than the default "hot" breading. Their large shape did make it mildly challenging to fit in the small dipping containers, but this was manageable.

My girlfriend's blackened chicken was unfortunately a bit one-note despite a toasted bun and pepper jack cheese. Not enough of the blackened seasoning coated the otherwise bland, unseasoned chicken. The crispy fried variant may be the best course for future outings if patrons prefer flavor over healthiness.

CHX is unquestionably one of the better chicken "tender" offerings in town and a good addition to this "revitalized" neighborhood. It's a great way to pair a meal with one of 3 Point's selection of craft beers.