Winging it at Les' Photograph by Giulietta Verdon-Roe Ruthie's, 96 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-246-5189 Mitchell's, 617A Vanderbilt Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-789-3212 Les', 268 Tompkins Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-783-8928 more nyclife most popular most commented Lynn Yaeger Spends the Weekend in Paris by Lynn Yaeger Need a Makanek? Try Cedars Meat House Counter Culture by Robert Sietsema Gene Simmons and the Whores He Admires La Dolce Musto by Michael Musto The Rusty Knot Has No Clothes, But Long Straws That Prompt Blowjob Jokes Fork in the Road by Sarah DiGregorio Deconstructing The New Ikea in Red Hük by Lynn Yaeger Trash Talking With Harvey Weinstein by Tony Ortega Coming and Then Licking It Up. Is This a Gay Thing? Savage Love by Dan Savage At Home With Competitive Swallowers Crazy Legs and Eater X by Andy Kropa Gene Simmons and the Whores He Admires La Dolce Musto by Michael Musto Columbia's Knotty Noose Problem by Graham Rayman The 'W.' Stands for 'War Criminal' (17) Nat Hentoff Scientology's Crushing Defeat (14) Tony Ortega Runnin' Scared: From Brooklyn, a Rap Campaign Against Tight Clothes (9) Runnin' Scared: Arcynta Ali Childs Runnin' Scared: The City Pitted Kids Against Artists in the East Village (6) Runnin' Scared: Chloé A. Hilliard Savage Love: My Boyfriend Almost Fathered a Lesbian Couple's Baby?!? (5) Savage Love: Dan Savage

While franchises smear their birds with thick starchy coatings and spices, real soul food fried chicken is streamlined and elegant. The cut-up parts are simply dusted with flour, salt, and pepper. Great care is required to keep the skin intact, which preserves the juiciness and provides the crunch. At Ruthie's, near Fort Greene Park, the fried chicken is available in breast or thigh-leg portions, with the latter preferred. Rather than being stockpiled in a steam cabinet, the bird is fried to order. The pieces are not large, but the $8.75 portion comes with a pair of sides and a big square of delicious cornbread. The sides are terrific too, including cheddary mac and cheese, plainish collard greens, and mayo potato salad.

Another place that time forgot is Mitchell's, in the heart of Prospect Heights. With chi-chi boutiques and trendy restaurants infilling along Vanderbilt Avenue, how long can it endure? Like Ruthie's, Mitchell's fried chicken (half-chicken with sides and cornbread, $9.50; leg "sandwich" on Wonder Bread, $3.50) is also made from scratch, so it may take 20 minutes for the bird to arrive. It's well worth the wait. Cooked a little longer than Ruthie's, the skin is rendered darker and crisper. On my last visit, one of the sides was a sweet succotash made from fresh corn, okra, and tomatoes. It was so good I almost fainted with pleasure.

Besides possessing excellent punctuation skills, Les' makes superb fried chicken, somewhat meatier than the specimens at Ruthie's and Mitchell's. There's a faint garlic taste in the gossamer coating. Located in an ungentrified part of Bed-Stuy, the restaurant offers prices a dollar or so lower than the other establishments, and the chicken-plus-two-sides feast in its leg-thigh manifestation is $7.95. Across the street from the gloomy 79th Precinct police station, the wood-clad room is also a bit more spacious. Noteworthy sides include pleasantly bitter turnip greens flavored with smoked turkey and a potato salad kissed with mustard.

Which is the best? It depends on what you're looking for in fried chicken. If New York had a Slow Food guide like the one in Italy, these three small restaurants would merit at least one or two snails. But until we develop our own system for landmarking and preserving our culinary heritage, unpretentious places like Ruthie's, Mitchell's, and Les' will be in peril.