Old favorite is back in Nashua

They're back.

Just when chickens thought it was safe to go downtown, Chicken 'n' Chips has reopened under new management at its West Hollis Street location.

The 40-year-old Nashua fast-food mainstay closed a year ago, but Jim and Gina Udice, co-owners of Professor's Pizza in Hudson, stepped in and resurrected the poultry palace earlier this summer to the delight of its devoted fans.

There's two ways to eat Chicken 'n' Chips -- in house or picked up and devoured a home. For the time being, the restaurant is not delivering, but it plans to in the next few months.

We chose to dine in and rather liked the urban feel of the place with City Hall across the street and plenty of passers-by walking past the large windows to watch.

The restaurant has plenty of tables; it's clean and cheerful; and we loved the chicken-o-bilia displayed in a curio case called "The Chicken Coop," including the original yellow and green Chicken 'n' Chips sign.

There is a big menu with a hamburger and some seafood included, but for the most part, this is about chicken, chicken and more chicken. We like that. If a place does one thing, it's pretty likely it does it well, and such is the case here.

We decided just to get as much of a variety of items as possible to graze and sample. We thought we were ordering small portions, but Chicken 'n' Chips has a very generous definitions of a "small" serving. Lucky us. That meant leftovers.

We ordered a small side of Chix Stix ($7.99), Chicken Wings ($7.99), Onion Rings ($3.99), Mozzarella Stix ($6.99), Jo-Jo Potatoes ($3.49), a Chicken Kabob Wrap ($7.29) -- all cooked to order -- and a small side of Cole Slaw ($1.99).

Drinks are available in the form of bottled sodas and water in a self-serve cooler.

Three of us ate and ate and still had four to-go boxes when we left.

Hands down, we all agreed our favorite incarnation of chicken were the Chicken Stix, really upscale chicken tenders, which are fresh, breaded, hand-trimmed chicken breast tenderloins. The outside was crispy, the inside was juicy, and they were filled with flavor. Some of us decided to dip them in little sides of buffalo sauce and blue cheese dressing.

Mr. and Mrs. T for T also enjoyed the nicely seasoned chicken wings, although Junior T for T thought they taste more like Chinese wings, which are not his thing. We found them fresh and crispy, although after sitting a few minutes, they did become a tad greasy.

By far the healthiest dish and amazingly tasty, too, was the Chicken Kabob Wrap, with big chunks of charbroiled chicken breast, feta cheese, lettuce and tomato with Greek dressing. This was a huge sandwich -- it must have weighed 1/2 pound. Next time, we will order the dressing on the side because we prefer our sandwich a bit drier.

We liked the mozzarella sticks and the onion rings, thin-cut and crispy. Both were good but not great.

The winning sides were homemade cole slaw and the Jo-Jos, which are wedge-cut potatoes that are battered and fried but not greasy. We found these hearty and earthy and definitely prefer them over traditional fries.

We have a small family, but we think those with bigger clans will get their money's worth here.

For $31.99, you can get the 40-plus-piece Chick Stix or Buff Stix meal pack which serves 5-6 people and includes mashed potatoes or french fries, cole slaw and onion rings.

And don't fret if there is someone who is not a chicken lover at home. The restaurant also offers Haddock ($4.99) and Steak Tip ($5.49) sandwiches, Cheeseburger Plates ($7.99), Clam or Scallop plates ($12.99), and Kids Mac and Cheese with French Fries ($5.99).

We're glad Nashua still has a Chicken 'n' Chips. It's nice to have an independently owned chicken option and not just a soulless chain restaurant.

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*** Chicken 'n' Chips

12 W. Hollis St., Nashua.

943-5840.

Food: ***

Service: Self.

Value: ***½

<b>CUISINE:</b> Chicken.

<b>Prices: </b>$4.95-$12.99.

<b>Hours: </b>11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday-Saturday.

<b>Handicapped Accessible:</b> Yes.

<b>Vegetarian Friendly: </b>Yes.

<b>Alcohol: </b>No.

<b>DRESS: </b>Casual.

<b>WOULD WE GO BACK? </b>Yes.

***** = Perfect

**** = Excellent

*** = Good

** = Fair

* = Poor

<i>Overall rating is not necessarily an average of Food, Service and Value ratings.</i>