Every time I hear about a place that is supposed to have amazing fried chicken, I want to try it. I blame my friends back in London, as several of them seemed very fried chicken obsessed. While I had once been all about the burgers (and still kind of am), fried chicken was something I also started to get somewhat obsessed with. So when I heard about Fremont Diner’s amazing fried chicken, I really wanted to bring one of my chicken obsessed friends there when she visited so we could try it together, but alas, the timing never worked out. Then I heard the diner was closing, and my life instantly got a bit sadder. Fortunately, they reopened Boxcar with more of the fried chicken concept without the breakfast, so I knew I was going to have to find my way here at some point. Then, when my husband decided we needed to go to Buena Vista Winery as our first stop in wine country, I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to give it a try, so we headed over to Boxcar so I could finally see if it could fulfill my fried chicken cravings.
The menu isn’t massive as it is primarily fried chicken focused, but they do have a few sandwiches on the menu as well. The sandwiches are all southern style with either fried chicken as filling or other things you would expect from this style of food. My husband gravitated toward the Oyster Po’ Boy (he is really such a fan of everything oyster), while I knew that this may be my only chance to give their fried chicken a try, so I opted for the Nashville Hot style chicken. It’s usually served with bread, but I knew I also wanted to try their biscuit, so for a small fee, they will upgrade the bread to a biscuit.
There isn’t a whole lot of seating inside, although it turns out they have a massive outdoor seating area I found later. But we did have a seat and waited for our food. When it arrived, it did look pretty great, so I was really eager to dig in and give it a try. I did really like the chicken itself. It wasn’t too hot (for me) even though I ordered it hot when they asked how hot I wanted it. (My husband though, thought the heat was a bit too much.) The batter was also really crispy and delicious, so I was pretty happy overall with the chicken itself. The macaroni and cheese was honestly, a bit of a joke, as it was just a bunch of very dry noodles with some bread crumbs on top. Where is the thick cheese sauce? How is this even macaroni and cheese? I was also kind of disappointed with the biscuit. It was slightly tough as if the dough had been overworked when the biscuits were being made. (I can make a better biscuit to be honest, and being able to make better food than a restaurant is one of my big pet peeves.)
The oyster sandwich was also pretty tasty, as I was allowed to have a bite of it. However, the oyster sandwich is also not built balanced, and all the oysters turned out to be in the front of the sandwich and all the vegetables in the back. That means I ate a good portion of the oysters in my bite, so I graciously offered a good portion of my chicken in return. I can see that oysters are expensive, but spreading them out would really make for a better sandwich overall. And what about the coleslaw served with both the dishes? At first I loved that it was a non-mayonnaise based slaw, as that type does tend to be a bit lighter. But it was overdressed, so it got really heavy and cloying as you ate through the slaw as the cabbage had soaked up a lot of the dressing.
Boxcar ended up being a bit of a disappointment. While I think the chicken was excellently cooked with an amazing crispy batter, the sides really left a lot lacking, and the build of the sandwich was disappointing. I’m glad I finally got to give it a try, but it won’t be staying on my list of places to try again unfortunately. While it does make for a convenient and quick place to stop on Highway 12, I’m sure I will wanting to be trying a plethora of other places before heading back. (Unless my friend is in town and REALLY, REALLY wants fried chicken.)
Score: 2.5/5
Recommendation: Fried chicken, but be wary of the sides.
Boxcar
2698 Fremont Drive
Sonoma, CA 95476
