The Best Things We Ate This Week: Pancake Batter Corndogs and Delivery Dumplings

Welcome back to The Best Things the Eater Boston Team Ate This Week, winter 2021 edition. On some Fridays, we each share a dish or two that really hit the spot in the past week. Given the current circumstances, we’ll mainly be discussing delivery and takeout options, as well as some drinks.

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Here’s our fall 2020 archive, our summer 2020 archive, our spring 2020 archive, our winter 2019-2020 archive, our fall 2019 archive, and our top 20 dishes of 2019 as a whole.

January 15: Delivery dumplings, pancake batter corndogs, and one hell of a good fried chicken sandwich

When I first heard about the pancake batter corndog from Allston newcomer Fiya Chicken, I knew I needed to eat the pancake batter corndog. And folks, I’m downright giddy to report that the pancake batter corndog is everything I dreamed it would be. It is sweet and salty and simultaneously pillowy and crunchy, which is to say that it is the perfect food. One can order the pancake batter corndog stuffed simply with a hotdog, or one can order the pancake batter corndog stuffed with a hotdog and mozzarella. (I did not get the pancake batter corndog mozzarella stick on this particular occasion, although I do intend to get it at some later date.)

I somehow made it into my early 30s before I ate a corndog, which is kind of wild considering that I grew up on the north shore and attended the Topsfield Fair no fewer than 18 times between 1985 and 2003. I’m not sure what my aversion was all about — I’ve always loved hotdogs and deep fried batter of all kinds, so it would seem that corndogs and I would make for a simple, easy love affair. We found one another eventually though, and that’s all that really matters. Anyway, this is a corndog blog now.

Also good from Fiya:

• The Korean fried chicken sandwich. The chicken is brined with buttermilk and kimchi, which gives the final product a slightly fermented taste. Fiya gives diners four different glaze options: soy garlic, spicy garlic, Fiya sauce (which is spicy), and cider honey mustard. I opted for the soy garlic glaze, which was pleasantly sweet and salty. The sandwich is served on a toasted brioche bun (which, satisfyingly, didn’t crumble into pieces as brioche buns are wont to do), and topped with housemade kimchi and pickles. It’s one of the best fried chicken sandwiches I’ve had in Boston, and one of the best meals I’ve had in forever.

Also good elsewhere:

• Frozen dumpling delivery from Mimi’s Chūka Diner. The pop-up from B&G Oysters alums Ted Woo and Jon Awerman focuses on Japanese-style Chinese cuisine — chūka ryori — with a focus on dumplings. Mimi’s makes weekly frozen dumpling deliveries around the Boston area, and also pop-ups at local restaurants. We recently ordered two dozen gyoza, and two dozen Sichuan-style wontons. They’re super easy to prepare for breakfast (dumplings with scrambled eggs is our new jam), lunch, or dinner — seven minutes (maximum) in a skillet, and voila, you’ve got a delicious plate of dumplings. Each pack comes with a dozen dumplings and packet of chili oil. The move: mix the chili oil with black vinegar for dipping. —Terrence Doyle