Statler chicken
Country music fans, take note: Statler chicken has nothing to do with those singing brothers from Virginia, who retired in 2002. This Statler -- a term for a boneless chicken breast with the drumette attached -- is decidedly urban, with its roots in Boston's Hotel Statler, built in 1927 by E.M. Statler.
Today the Statler is the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, and one of its anchor restaurants is Todd English's Bonfire, which on its private-event menu serves a pan-roasted Statler chicken with Spanish rice and a simple arugula salad. Nate Nagy, Bonfire's acting executive chef, likes the Statler cut because it offers the combination of clean white breast meat and flavorful, juicy wing meat from around the little bone.
A Park Plaza spokeswoman said records don't detail the origin of the chicken's name any further than to acknowledge that it indeed came from the Hotel Statler, but Nagy has an idea about the reason other restaurants picked up on it: ''I think the decoration possibilities must have been key," he says. ''Chefs like to have that little nub to do something with." Todd English's Bonfire, Boston Park Plaza Hotel, 64 Arlington St., 617-262-3473. -- JOE YONAN 