A MOST GLORIOUS CHICKEN JOINT

I love the humble Chinese-run Popeyes in Sunset Park on 5th Avenue at 50th Street. It's invariably clean, the chicken is always fresh and delicious, and it's located across the street from a hole-in-the-wall old school wing chun school. It also has the rare quality of being an NYC Popeyes that doesn't attract the absolute dregs of humanity, like the ones on Flatbush Avenue and in the Fulton Mall area, so no one is begging for money, flogging shot-off-the-screen bootleg DVDs, ranting insanely, passing out on the tables, or O.D.ing. In short, this gets my nod as the best Popeyes that I have yet encountered. (Runners-up: the one across the street from the Armory in the 20s in Manhattan, and either of the ones that I know about in Chinatown. Always trust an Asian-run Popeyes.)