Mississippi Belle - Revisit

Quick little update you guys. Don’t forget about Mississippi Belle—still probably some of the best fried chicken in town. The family had a craving the other day and we went and picked it up for dinner. I always just order when I get there, because they are so fast putting it together. 

My favorite pieces will always be thighs and legs, but they do a good job with the white meat as well. And if you ask for mashed potatoes and mac and cheese for four, they’ll give you enough for 7-8. I don’t know what it is about their mac and cheese, but it is so addicting. It’s simple, but has some pepper mixed in and just tastes really good.

I also ordered one side of sautéed cabbage because I like it (and no one else in my family does) and it is tasty too. It’s a vegetable, but it is nowhere near healthy from what I can tell. My family likes the cornbread muffins, although they aren’t my favorite. A little dry.

The chicken though—it’s really good. I’m am always amazed at how many people who are fried chicken afficianoadoes ask me about my favorite and have never been here. Just go—you’ll understand. And bring cash. They don’t take credit cards.

Mississippi Belle

2170 East 54^th Street

Indy 46220

317/466-0522

Mississippi Belle - Revisit

My son’s BFF has moved out of state (very sad) and my son wanted to have a going away sleepover for him and his closest friends. It was very sweet. Anyway, he also wanted to serve his friend’s favorite foods, which as it turns out wasn’t chicken nuggets as we thought, but actually Mississippi Belle fried chicken. Score. So the kid has some good taste. (Also chocolate cake with chocolate icing and orange Fanta to drink—I made the cake and bought the soda).

Anyway, I certainly wasn’t going to pass up a golden opportunity to eat Mississippi Belle for dinner, healthy eating or no. I knew we needed A LOT of chicken legs for these boys, as that is the favorite piece for all of them. So I went in around lunchtime and asked if they could put together a special order to pick up at dinner for us that could include all those legs. They were very accommodating and let me pick exactly the pieces I wanted. Hubby and I tend to like thighs the best, and my in-laws (who were in town) like white meat. So we got just enough for everyone. We knew we also wanted mac and cheese and mashed potatoes, as well as some of the fried cornbread, so I asked if they have large versions of their sides (usually they just give individual sized portions). They told me just to tell them how many people we had and they would give us enough of each. I told them six even though we had eight, because four of the people were kids and I figured they’d be generous.

Holy moly, I couldn’t believe how much of each they gave us—basically they were 9 x 13” aluminum foil pans filled with each. It was enough to feed 15-20 I think. Anyhow, I love all of these things at Mississippi Belle—the chicken is so well seasoned and even after traveling, still tasted fresh and crisp. It’s exceedingly juicy, and my mother-in-law said even the breasts stayed that way (always a potential problem with fried chicken breasts).  It’s certainly some of the best fried chicken in Indy. I have said it many times, and having it again just confirmed it.

I also really like the mac and cheese. I can’t say what it is—it isn’t fancy or anything, and it still feels like some sort of (lighter in color) processed cheese being used, but it just hits the spot. There’s some pepper in there too. The mashed potatoes are straightforward too, but again, just taste really good. 

I also ordered some of the fried cabbage, which is sautéed in something yummy and seasoned well. And hey, it’s a vegetable right? So it must be healthy.

Anyhow, I just wanted to do a little revisit here because this place is just so good. They give you a ton of food for a reasonable price (cash only FYI) and if I’m getting fried chicken to go, this is the place. (Ok, with an occasional stop at Popeye’s, because that’s a weakness also). 

Mississippi Belle

2170 East 54^th Street

Indy 46220

317/466-0522

Mississippi Belle - Revisit

This is a revisit, because it is one of those places that I feel an obligation to make sure you guys go to even if you missed my post from like 3 years ago.  Well, if you like fried chicken anyway.

We actually carry out from here a fair amount, but the other Sunday, we were driving around with the kids looking for somewhere to eat on the way to the Children’s Museum and everywhere was crazy busy.  We knew the kids would like it because, well, they’ve had it before.  I don’t know if Sunday for lunch is the best time to eat there because you pay full price (their lunches are more reasonable) but we ate for days on the food we took home (it is all you can eat for Sunday meals and dinner and the meal is $13 for your choice of meat and 4 sides, less for kids).

Normally when I do a revisit I try and branch out and get something different. At Mississippi Belle, screw that. Fried chicken. Mac and cheese. Mashed potatoes.  That’s the way to go and you will be happy.  My daughter, who isn’t as huge a fan of fried chicken as I am (how does this happen?), actually did get the turkey plate, which is an interesting shredded turkey.  It was pretty good—moist and tender and easy for her to eat. Better than the chicken? Heck no.

My advice is to go with all dark meat—it is just so good and so tender.  I love the crispy skin on their chicken over all, and you just get more of it on the dark meat pieces. The breasts are so huge you just don’t get enough of the skin. Although the wings are pretty tasty. Anyhow, it’s the seasoning makes this chicken stand out.  The only negative for me with the chicken is that they are obviously cooking it constantly because it comes out really fast though and occasionally because of this, you can get a piece that isn’t quite as fresh as others.

The mashed potatoes are good, and are generally a necessary component to a fried chicken meal for me.  Like I have said before, they taste like potatoes—and even without gravy, they are fairly creamy—not stiff like a lot of potatoes are when gravy is used.  There’s some pepper in there too.  One of my favorite things though is the mac and cheese. It isn’t fancy, and I am guessing there is some processed cheese in there because it is so smooth, but I love the peppery kick to it. It’s just right with the meal and I will never go there and not order it.  And they give you so much of it; I am serious when I say we were eating it for a week.

The hot water cornbread—which are like little discs of cornbread that are fried. Again, I would love a little butter or apple butter or something with them, but they’re pretty good too.

Anyhow, if you want some darn good fried chicken, skip the fast food and check out this place. You will certainly not go home hungry, I will guarantee you that.

Mississippi Belle

2170 East 54^th Street

Indy 46220

317/466-0522

Mississippi Belle

Finally we found the fried chicken place we were looking for the other day. I am not sure why it was so difficult considering when we were at Marco’s we could have stood at their door and looked straight at it. For some reason I thought it was on Keystone, so we were looking in the wrong place. Anyhow, this time we came prepared with the actual address (always helpful) and very easily went straight to Mississippi Belle where my fried chicken quest could continue.

The interior of this place is decorated much like a large scale version of your Grandma’s house in the 70s. Friendly though, once someone noticed we were there. Since there were menus on the tables, we assumed we were just supposed to sit anywhere, which we did. I think there were only a couple of people working and the first 5-10 minutes we were there, they were apparently cooking or something. Anyway, once we were spotted, we were quickly served and our order taken. And we did not wait long at all for our food.

Well, we were obviously here for the fried chicken, but there are other main dishes on the menu as well. For lunch, they offer baked chicken, meatloaf, ribs and a couple forms of roast beef, as well as a few other things. Each plate comes with 2 sides and “hot water corn bread.” With the intention of sharing, I got the all white plate and hubby had the all dark meat. We shared the sides of mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and fried cabbage.

But let’s start with the cornbread. So I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect with “hot water cornbread,” but these were kind of yummy. They were like little discs of fried corn bread batter, almost like a fried biscuit in their consistency. They were quite crunchy on the outside, until about half way through where they were more soft and doughy. I enjoyed them, although I had a desire for something sweet (apple butter maybe?), or even some sweet cream butter to put on them. Hubby really liked them.

But on to the heart of the matter, the chicken. In a word, it was good. Very good in fact. This chicken is pan fried, not deep fried, so it doesn’t have the super thick crust like some does, but the crust itself was crisp and had a lot of flavor. This was what I found lacking at some other places--there was no seasoning on the chicken. Mississippi Belle had a good amount of seasoning—you could see it on the skin. The breast was probably one of the more tender I have had when it comes to fried chicken, which is very hard to pull off. While I probably love the crust at MCL the best, the meat there is often a bit too dried out. This was not the case here. And the wing was even better. I had some of the dark meat and it was (naturally) moister as well. All in all, this chicken is up there for me. Has the homemade flavor, and is not cooked to death. Like I said, this is not battered in anyway, but the skin is seasoned and fried crisp.
The sides were also quite good. Hubby continues to talk about the mashed potatoes and gravy. He really liked the gravy. (“It tastes like someone actually made it!”) Now I am not a gravy person when it comes to potatoes, but I didn’t think to ask for it without and so did have some. It was pretty good as far as gravy goes for me. But I am getting the potatoes next time without it. The potatoes were creamy and tasted like potatoes.

The mac and cheese was really good I thought. Not the bright orange variety—elbow noodles with a slightly more “found in nature” type coloring, a creamy yellow. And you could see the flecks of pepper in it. Hubby thought it looked like macaroni salad when he first saw it, and initially thought it was cold. But it wasn’t. But that gives you an idea of what it looks like. It was really tasty. Nice and creamy and again, well seasoned. I would get this again in a heartbeat.
The cabbage wasn’t bad, but wasn’t super exciting (and I do generally like cooked cabbage). I am not sure what part was “fried” tasted more like boiled to me, but it had a little more flavor to it I guess than just pure boiled cabbage, but not that much. I enjoyed it ok, but I am not sure I would get it again.

I am excited to have this place around (and not that far from home). From now on when I want to get a bunch of chicken, I am going to get it carry out from here. I like knowing it is freshly made, and the sides aren’t coming out of some corporate container that was shipped in from somewhere else. And I think my kids will love this place—this is their kind of cuisine. And I will enjoy taking them somewhere local as well.

So I guess in conclusion, while I probably still think MCL has my favorite fried chicken when it is fresh and cooked perfectly (which maybe happens maybe about 60% of the time), this is up there. A completely different style, but for what it is, it is very well done.

Mississippi Belle
2170 East 54th Street
Indy 46220
317/466-0522