As an overindulged restaurant critic, some nights I find nothing will do for dinner but chicken.  It can be a battered, fast-food fried thigh. Or it might be an esoteric original dreamed up by a star chef. Here are a dozen of my favorite birds in New York City.

Red Rooster  
310 Lenox Avenue  between 125 and 126th Street. Harlem
From the moment Marcus Samuelsson opened Red Rooster folks from uptown and down have been queuing for tables. It launched hot and just gets hotter, even with Ginny’s Supper Club downstairs. It’s a heady crowd as diverse as the menu, a little bit African, and a little bit soul. I go for the corn bread with luscious tomato jam, crusty mac’n’cheese in an iron pan and the “Fried Yard Bird bathed in buttermilk and painted with hot sauce.  “Dark meat” only wins my vote. And if it isn’t torrid enough there’s a shaker alongside with the chef’s “hellfire blend.”

Lafayette Grand and Bakery
380 Lafayette Street,SE Corner of Great Jones
Having won the town fussy eaters with Locanda Verde (Italian) and The Dutch (American), Chef Andrew Carmellini longed to cook French.  Lafayette, in this sprawling downtown spot wrapped in glass with a tempting bakery up front drew crowds overnight. But the cooking took time to mellow. On my most recent visit the vinegar sauce enlivens a fine rotisserie chicken for two – picture perfect in its copper pan.  I like the chef’s pastas too and at the end, the fine apple tarte tatin for the table. Come for breakfast. 

Mountain Bird
231 West 145th Street, Harlem
Lace-curtain charm is the mark of Mountain Bird, run by a French-trained Japanese chef and his wife with only a sole dishwasher to help.  Start with the pumpernickel baguette with vanilla butter and share the over-the-top rich shrimp bisque macaroni. Then discover the juiciness of chicken schnitzel with two sauces. This is surely the only spot I know where you can start with a $8 Head-to-Toe tasting of bird bites: chicken comb cutlet, duck gizzard and heart, chicken liver pâté with Port Wine and chicken wing lollipop with black truffle dressing. The chef bakes his own excellent desserts.

Rotisserie Georgette
14 East 60th Street near Madison Avenue
As Chef Daniel Boulud’s right-hand woman for 17 years, Georgette Farkas had a clear idea of her following and this stylish high ceiling room with palatial French accents on East 60th is the perfect address. I go for the $72 poule de luxe with potatoes soaked in its rotisserie drippings even though I wish there were more wild mushroom stuffing under the skin. 

Red Farm Uptown
2170 Broadway between 76th and 77th Street
When I have sipped a sangria and sampled five or six of the legendary dim sum by Red Farm’s amazing dumpling wizard Joe Ng, there is only one entrée for me. It used to be rice with BBQ duck. Now, it’s Joe’s uniquely crunchy and dazzling version of the Cantonese banquet dish, shrimp stuffed chicken with a side of sugars snaps or snow peas. Outside there are queues waiting for tables to turn. Consider yourself lucky you got your turn.

The Writing Room
1705 Second Avenue near 88th Street
The Writing Room’s rotisserie bird is no bashful little poussin. It a well-raised smartly delicious grownup, big enough for four, delivered with roasted root vegetables and a lemon if you want an extra splurge of savor. Of course you can order half a bird..  Ditto with the remarkable fried chicken. It comes with a big crumbly biscuit and decent coleslaw. Try for a table in the library. The front room can be wildly noisy.

Bar Bolonat
611 Hudson Street, corner of West 12th
At this writing, Israeli Einat Admony’s small and juicy mahogany poussin is my favorite bird.  Lacquered to a crackle, nested in crisped rice and potatoes in a black iron pan with scattered candied walnuts and a few sprigs of green, it’s juicy and full of flavor. Not that big, but still, it’s easily enough for two, maybe three, after starters: deep-fried cauliflower, eggplant with sheep’s milk yogurt, and her refreshing fatush salad. Bolonat is small and tightly packed but worth sardining in.

Benoit New York
60 West 55th Street, Midtown
Classic French in midtown, always dependable Benoit, Chef-mogul Alain Ducasse’s NYC outpost of the revered French bistro, has come into its own with chef Philippe Bertineau running the show. I follow my usual starter, the country-style frisée, bathed in bacon fat with crisp bacon lardons under its perfect poached egg with the roasted chicken for two. It comes with a scattering of herbs and half a garlic bulb on top.  If I can’t persuade a companion to join me, I take the leftovers home. For more French soul, finish with tarte tatin. 

Hill Country Fried Chicken and Pies
1123 Broadway at 25th Street
Join the line for your fast food fried chicken fix – choose a thigh and a leg or a breast, a biscuit and sides, then head to the rec room-like space below to snag a table. I’m not a certified fried chicken expert, but I find these plump moist, buttermilk brined birds hold their own in fast company. I prefer the deliciously crumbs Texas classic over Grandma El’s skinless parts with a secret spicy coating that is too salty for me. Finish with one or two of the house’s delicious small pies, $4.25 each. ”Double cherry” is my favorite.

Charles Country Pan-Fried Chicken
2839 Frederick Douglas Blvd (8th Avenue) at 151st Street
The first time I tasted Charles Gabriel’s mythic fried chicken thighs, my friends and I filled a brown paper sack and ate in the car.  More recently we managed to snag a small table for four for a go at the $15 all-you-can-eat buffet. The potato salad and macaroni are okay but the bird is the prize. We waited till the big guy lumbered in with a sheet pan hot from the fry, then helped ourselves. The banana pudding is the perfect finale.

Barbuto
775 Washington Street in the Village
Jonathan Waxman fans made this revisioned garage with cement floor and windows that roll up, weather permitting, a tough ticket to score. They (like me) come to share in his love affair with Italian simplicity: crunchy salads,  savory pastas and the crusty wood oven-grilled chicken with bright salsa verde  melding parsley, basil, mint and arugula with lemon and olive oil. 

La Mangeoire
1008 Second Avenue between at 54th Street.
Chef Christian Delouvrier has brought his serious mastery of French Country classics to this vintage spot. No one in town does cassoulet better, but that’s a winter’s special. His crusty and succulent chicken for one or two is an everyday triumph, with big fat fries on the side and a billowy lettuce salad before or after. Order ahead or as soon as you arrive roasting a whole bird takes time.