
It's weird because at first you canât tell if Quality Athletics is open. The smart metal letters spelling out the restaurantâs name still poke up from the awning on South King Street, and the patio still fills with people who look like they would hang out at Quality Athletics.
Look again, though, because instead of yupgraded pub grub, theyâre all chowing down on Southern fried chicken.
I mean, you donât even need to lookâthe smell hits you first. On a Marinersâ game day, I floated through the door on a cartoon aroma cloud to find that Quality Athletics was gone. Burbâs Burgers and Cookieâs Country Chicken now share the space. Most of the crowd, it seemed, had followed the scentâor maybe the sandwich boardâto Cookieâs.
When I showed up, Chef Brian âCookieâ Chandler himself was working the register. When asked for the menu item he thought best represented the restaurant, he brought back a pair of big old country-fried chicken breasts. My boyfriend raised an eyebrow. âOh, the breast? Thatâs making a statement because itâs the hardest to do right. Easy for them to get dried out.â
Chandler looked him in his face and said, âYeah, I agree. Thereâs definitely a higher bar to clear with a breast, and I think ours are the best around.â
Dude. We couldnât argue. Meat was super juicy and briny, with a lightweight crackle to the fried batter, almost tempura-like but more crinkly and gnarly. Iâm a giant mark for crinkly-crackly chicken skin, so I raved about that while my BF continued to express astonishment over the moisture level and flavor content Cookie packed into a chicken breast. Our nonbeliever asked aloud, with his mouth full, âGod damn, whatâs he do to them?â
Itâs been a process. Originally from the Kitsap Peninsula, Chandler has cooked all his life, but he perfected the science of fried chicken while cooking for huge crews on oil boats in Louisiana.
Fried chicken on Sunday was a tacit requirement, and it took some trial-and-error before he had it down. He knew heâd nailed it when the crew started calling him âCookieââa term of endearment and respect. âIt means they like your food," he said.
The aforementioned fried chicken breasts owed their tricky balance of juiciness and flavor to 24 hours in brine, then 24 hours in a (secret) marinade, then the lightest of dredgings in a (secret) batter, and finally a stint in the deep fryer at 340° F. The result is fried chicken thatâs sensational when itâs fresh and hot, sure, but itâs also honestly just as great several hours later, when you happen to be, say, taking a road trip to the mountains.

Chandler started serving chicken in Seattle in 2019. Cookie's first popped up at Sneaky Tiki in Georgetown, and then bopped around town until December of 2020, when it finally settled in the old Quality Athletics spot.
Chandler seems happiest when heâs cooking en masse, another lesson he picked up during his maritime days in the Gulf of Mexico. âWe fed a whole lot of people during COVID, donated a whole lot of chicken,â he explains, âIn fact, âWhole team eatsâ is the motto around here. Itâs even on our staff T-shirts.â He also believes in paying his good fortune forward through local charity fundraisers, such as one for the Ballad Elks Lodge. Thereâs a form on the restaurantâs website where you can request Cookieâs chicken for your fundraising event, with the preamble: âCookieâs Country Chicken will always be based on feeding the people.â
After the bone-in fried chicken, the Barn Burner sandwich is the clear standout on the menu. Cookieâs serves the sandwich Nashville hot chicken-style with pickles; nice and saucy. After that itâs the preternaturally creamy mac and cheeseâcomparable to Velveeta in texture, but itâs real cream. Itâs like a savory milkshake, practically drinkable. (You can get it with the Nashville hot seasoning sprinkled on top, so do that.)
The hand-cut chicken âtendiesâ tap the same idea as that luscious fried breast, but theyâre obviously bonelessâand colossal. Deep-fried âcaulinuggetsâ offer a fun veggie alternative to the chicken, and the fried catfish is solid. Our pretty honkinâ huge portion of beer-battered fries vanished before we could even really consider what we were eating or what the cooks did to make them so good. You want to dip them in the housemade dill-forward ranch dressing, so get some of that. Cookieâs does waffle fries too, which I regret not ordering but will make a point to pick up next time because you just know.

Itâs all reasonably priced, too. âYou can feed a family of four at my place for fifty bucks,â Chandler told me. âTen pieces of chicken, three pounds of sides. I think thatâs pretty good these days, donât you?â
So far, Chandlerâs success has only seemed to snowball. Earlier this month, Cookie's Coastal, an outpost in the tiny community of Seabrook on the Washington State peninsula, saw its grand debut. Meanwhile, on a summer Saturday afternoon, the flagship store on King Street was chockablock with people, and there wasnât even a game that night. And even though he has a permanent kitchen now, he still canât resist a collab. Lately, heâs been focused on returning the early pop-up karma, spotlighting a different local bakery in his Sunday brunch menu every week. Recent examples include Sweet Nothings, Zylberschteinâs, the London Plane, and Boot Scootin Bread.
Cookieâs is still popping up as well, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. On that one gruesomely hot weekend in late June, they showed up at Great Notion Brewing in Ballard, selling (out) tendies and sandos and watermelon salad in the excruciating heat. Other recent cameos included shops at Shelter, Mean Sandwich, Good Day Donuts, and Bootleg BBQ.
âThose are our roots,â Chandler says. âWeâve always been really excited about any possible opportunity to cross-pollinate and help others. I just literally want to feed everyone.â
Cookie's Country Chicken
121 S King Street
Seattle Wa 98104
(206) 707-5956