I stuffed myself with tons of fried chicken last Thursday during Tasting Table's Bubbly + Crunch Presented by Lexus event set at a warehouse in Oakland. Because of my 'chickitarian' diet, as some of my friends who know my diet call it, I have high standards when it comes to finger lickin' good chicken. 

My staff pass from DeLise, which was one of the dessert purveyors, gave me access to taste some of the piping hot chicken even before the party started. The runaway winner in my books is Pican from Uptown Oakland for its well-seasoned, tender, juicy Mary's chicken with BBQ/honey mustard dressing. San Francisco's Namu Gaji and Nombe tied on the second spot.

I can't really blame some vendors who served dry fried chicken since they were not in their own kitchen. Frying on the spot in a tiny booth with hungry patrons waiting in line is hard enough.  Kudos to all the participating vendors! 

I had a grand time slurping on Humphry Slocombe's famous bourbon cornflakes ice cream sans a long line- a perfect way to cleanse my palette after all that fried chicken goodness and bubbly champagne. I was also so thrilled to see those who stopped by the DeLise booth with happy faces after tasting our dessert assortment, including miso sesame rice krispies, vanilla bean cupcake, Japanese cheesecake and brown butter shortbread.

Thank you Tasting Table/Lexus for a wonderful event!