Best Thursday lunch deal: Pan-fried chicken at Cascone’s Grill
Cascone’s Grill, the family-owned Italian diner across the street from the City Market at 17 East 5th Street, serves a three-piece pan-fried chicken lunch on Thursdays and Saturdays for $8.75. The meal includes two vegetables (today it was mashed potatoes and sweet corn) a stack of Roma bread and a smear of “butter” (that’s what the waitress called it, but it was actually some kind of shiny, buttery-colored vegetable oil concoction).
The kitchen was out of white meat by 12:15 p.m. and our server told us that it’s not unusual for them to be completely out of chicken by 1 p.m. “The chicken lasts a lot longer on Saturdays,” said the waitress, “because we serve a lot more breakfasts on that day.”
The dark meat dinner: two legs and a thigh, was very moist and tasty under a crackly, peppery crust and the buttered corn was fresh.
Desserts cost extra, but today’s dolce specials were Golden Boy pies (coconut cream, chocolate cream, banana cream and pumpkin).
