There were contenders from eight states and flavors inspired by traditions from around the globe at the National Fried Chicken Festival last weekend. But the two eateries to win the top awards are homegrown New Orleans spots located about a mile away from each other.

McHardy’s Chicken & Fixin' won the festival’s award for Best Fried Chicken, for its traditional chicken on the bone, a recipe the restaurant prepares day-in and day-out.

Blue Oak BBQ won the festival’s award for Best Use of Chicken in a Dish, for its spicy chicken sandwich, a recurring special that's getting a victory lap at the restaurant all week.

The honors were awarded by a panel of judges convened by the festival.

“I feel like I won the Super Bowl,” said Rahman Mogilles, McHardy’s proprietor. “To see people reach out and show you that love through food, it’s amazing.”

McHardy’s is a take-out counter on North Broad Street, part of a cluster of small businesses around Bayou Road. When the Mogilles family started the business in 2001 it was their first foray in the restaurant world. They had to rebuild it after Hurricane Katrina and they rebuilt it again after a fire in 2006, one in a spat of blazes that beset the city in those shaky, early post-Katrina years.

In a time when fried chicken has been fodder for upscale restaurants and flights of culinary fancy, McHardy’s chicken is straight-up, economical boxed chicken, a staple of game day parties, parade route parties and eat-in-your-car, lunch-on-the-run meals.

Hundred-piece orders are business as usual here, and the chicken is renowned for its reliably consistent quality and distinctive peppery spice.

“The recipe is one that’s been in the family for a nice little while,” said Mogilles. “It’s just what we’ve always done. I can remember doing this as a child, looking at grandma cooking and watching how she’d do it.”

Blue Oak BBQ opened in 2016 near City Park, taking over the longtime former home of Fellini’s. Co-founders Ronnie Evans and Philip Mosley started the business as a pop-up in 2012, serving smoked meats from the Uptown bar Grits before moving to the music club Chickie Wah Wah.

By the time they lit the smoker at their own restaurant, they had already built an avid following among local barbecue hounds. The Blue Oak crew won top honors for their barbecue at Hogs for the Cause in 2017.

This year was Blue Oak’s first outing at the Fried Chicken Festival. Its winning dish, the spicy chicken sandwich, is a weekly Tuesday special at the restaurant.

To celebrate its win, Blue Oak BBQ announced it will serve the sandwich all week, and devote proceeds from its sale to Hogs for the Cause.

McHardy's Chicken & Fixin'

1458 N. Broad St., 504-949-0000

Blue Oak BBQ

900 N. Carrollton Ave., 504-822-2583

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