BT Chicken brings Korean flair to Oxford’s restaurant scene

It’s a bird! It’s a plane!

No, it’s another chicken restaurant in Oxford.

BT Chicken — the BT stands for “best taste” — opened Jan. 17 to rave reviews on the infamous Facebook group “Oxford Talk.” Gary Zhao, the owner and a Miami University alum, wanted to bring Korean food to the town.

The restaurant, located where the hot pot restaurant once stood at 15 S. Beech St., has the atmosphere of a hidden dive diner. The layout is open with a counter for ordering and K-pop always playing in the background.

The setting is not the main attraction here, rather, the exciting Korean street style food.

Most of BT Chicken’s appeal comes from its inventive menu, rather than genuine delectability. Sporting wild hot dogs, an abundance of sauces and a burger with kimchi, we found it hard not to be at least moderately interested in each item on the menu.

We tried the Korean Sweet Spicy chicken, which came with eight wings for just over $10. This seemed like a good price and a fair amount, but it ended up being way too much to finish. The container was already overflowing when our food came out, and our server returned soon after, bringing out another wing that the kitchen had forgotten. We ended up not finishing it all, not because it wasn’t good, but there was too much chicken.

The chicken was cooked to perfection. It came out piping hot with a flaky and crunchy fried outer shell. The biggest problem was the sauce, which was drizzled onto the chicken lightly, and was overpowered by the chicken. This wasn’t Luke’s first time trying Korean fried chicken, and although he was impressed by the cooking, he wasn’t as impressed by the flavor.

We tried the Seoul Street Burger, the standard burger with “Secret Sauce” and kimchi. While interesting enough not to leave a crumb on the tray, the patty itself didn’t taste much better than what you can find at any other quick-serve restaurant.

The strangest thing we chose to try was the “Potato Corn Dog,” which didn’t have … a hot dog. Instead of the traditional hot dog, the center of the corn dog was made up of something that could have been either potato or cheese, and a thoroughly intriguing mix of style and substance.

Photo by Devin Ankeney | and Luke Macy The Miami Student
The "Potato Corn Dog," deceives customers as it is filled with potato rather than a hot dog.

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Our eyes did wander toward the “Hot Dogs” section of the menu, but gourmet hot dogs, while fascinating and quirky, didn’t really pull us in. Now, if BT Chicken had a window at Great American Ballpark, we’d be all over it.

Context is king.

Even for the top-of-the-line burger at BT Chicken, the prices were perfectly affordable. With two entrees, a side and two drinks, we barely spent $30. Total.

However, the unique menu was ultimately too long to justify itself. We’d go back to BT Chicken again, but only to try another bizarre menu item once or, if in the mood, to get the only Korean chicken in town.

After all, the chicken was the star of the show.

Rating: 7/10

ankenedw@miamioh.edu

@lukejmacy

macylj@miamioh.edu