I tend to get giddy and wave my arms when I'm asked about a food favorite -- whether it's a restaurant, a recipe or simply that I've finally figured out how to caramelize beets on a grill.
So when I moved to Anchorage two years ago and asked an office colleague about the best place to get fried chicken here, his response was so laid-back that I almost didn't bite.
"Well, you know where I like," he said, slowly. "Do you know where Lucky Wishbone is?"
On the edge of downtown as you arrive via Fifth Avenue, the Wishbone is hard to miss, but a tourist or newbie can drive by thinking it's just another diner -- not the first on that strip of road.
However, that usually happens only when the restaurant is closed and the car windows are up -- otherwise, it's hard to cross the intersection of Karluk without inhaling the aroma that's made the joint a local fave for more than five decades.
That '50s feeling
The Wishbone is often described as a "'50s-style restaurant," as if that were a chosen theme. Hardly: The eatery opened in 1955, never looked back and rarely looked forward.
After two expansions some time ago, the french fries are frozen now, not fresh-pared, but most things are determinedly done as they were in the good ol' days.
Vintage photos on the walls are an Alaska history lesson, from political leaders to cultural icons to postwar (that would be World War II) military images.
That chicken!
It's flown up fresh from Seattle, never frozen. The kitchen crew smacks it into dinner portions with a cleaver and bathes it in homemade buttermilk batter. Then each piece is pan-fried to order.
It costs about 50 percent more than the Colonel (about double if you want all-white or all dark), but there's really no comparison. Hot, fresh, juicy. It's hard not to inhale the stuff.
Big eaters go for "Pop," the five-piece order ($11.25) that usually includes a breast, thigh, leg, wing and a back. "Mom" packs three pieces ($10.25) and "Junior" two ($5.95 for a leg and a wing). You can also take out orders of eight, 15 and 25 pieces for a chicken feast at home.
With a personal-size chicken dinner, you get fries and a corn muffin with a sweet edge that you can enhance with the honey on the side.
Gizzards? I've never been sure what they are (do I have one in me?), but they're fried and tasty ($9.95).
Those shakes!
The Wishbone's other claim to fame can also make you want to grab your bobby socks. Besides serving the classic choc, vanilla and strawberry, Lucky Wishbone still mixes cherry, root beer, pineapple, orange, banana and -- YES! -- butterscotch shakes, as well as some specialty flavors that command an extra quarter.
Order the peanut-butter shake and you'll bless George Washington Carver, who first mashed goobers to a sublime end, every day for at least a week.
Milkshakes run $3.25 to $6, depending on size; add 25 cents to make it malted. If you're not in a shakey mood or you want that for dessert, the lemonade ($2.25-$3.25) is a fine companion for a meal.
More comfort food
For people who wouldn't order fried chicken on their birthday or for their last meal on death row -- there are such people, apparently -- there are tasty, lean hamburgers (a quarter-pound burger is called "jumbo," $5.25; fries or onion rings are extra).
You can also get Swiss cheese or bacon or chili on a burger, or a sandwich with chicken, cod or halibut inside. Cold roast beef, with lettuce and mayo on toasted white bread, was a delight to rediscover ($5). Grilled cheese ($4.25) is fine but ordinary.
Sweet service
A family operation with a lot of pride, the Wishbone doesn't churn through staff the way most restaurants do. But though they are friendly and almost always attentive, things can occasionally go awry: I've slipped in for a late-afternoon lunch and been forgotten for 20 minutes after being seated. Probably a shift-change hiccup; it's certainly not typical.
A snag that is consistent: You're apparently supposed to order dessert when you order your meal; no server has ever come back and asked if I wanted dessert before bringing my check.
The strawberry shortcake, served Southern-style on a fresh buttermilk biscuit ($5.75), is something to sing about, but the Wishbone seems oddly shy about it.
More sweet stuff
Other sugar-buzz options include nostalgic ice-cream sodas ($4.50) and sundaes ($5.50). Chocoholics may lunge for the brownie delight ($5.75), a pile-on that includes hot fudge, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.
Eat it slowly, and remember a time when summer days seemed like they'd never end.
Got a restaurant tip, a new menu, a favorite dish or a chef change? Send an e-mail to play@adn.com.
Lucky Wishbone
Location: 1033 E. Fifth Ave.
Hours: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.- 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday, closed Sunday
Phone: 272-3454
Want to rave or pan? Write your own review of this restaurant or any other recently reviewed place at play.adn.com/dining.
By Mike Peters
Daily News correspondent