Dig into Korean fried chicken inspired by fried rice at Lakewood late-night spot

Anyone who talks to me or follows my work knows I’m more than a little obsessed with the Korean food in the South Sound. In our neck of that woods, that heartbeat lies in Lakewood, where signs abound in Korean script and longstanding restaurants and many newcomers dot South Tacoma Way as it turns into Pacific Highway.

I’ve been thinking about fried chicken (chicken and jo’s and katsu, to be precise). Satisfying a craving for the Korean style has sent me in a few directions, but only one holds a soft spot among restaurant industry pros or anyone looking for a real late-night bite.

House Special Chicken at KKO KKO Place

On a dangerously foggy night, our attempt to dine on chicken and jo’s at Hans’s Place was foiled by a long wait for the Henny Penny. We needed chicken. Already on South Tacoma Way, I slowly steered the car south, letting Google Maps remind me where to turn left. At this destination, the fluorescent ceiling lights were bizarrely bright, and the chicken was very saucy.

Tacomans in the know (especially after-hours) advise coming here for the Korean fried chicken. I’ve tried the extra-crunchy wings at several Korean restaurants in the area, but I usually beeline to bb.q chicken, a Korean franchise with more than 3,500 locations in 57 countries that stands for “best of the best quality.” Tonight was the night for KKO KKO.

The full name of this Lakewood institution is Kkokkoma-eul Hulaideuchikin; the shorthand is pronounced as in “koh koh” with a hard K and light O. Since around 2010, KKO KKO has anchored the plaza from which many other food businesses have come and gone. (The plaza’s current iteration is worth a detour, featuring Pinoy Bakeshop, a Filipino bakery; Viet Kitchen, originally a spinoff of VK Viet Kitchen in Tacoma’s Lincoln District but since sold to new owners; and Taco Mix, also known as Los Cuervos, where blistered homemade tortillas produce some of the region’s best tacos.)

The meat of each wing, tossed in the house special sauce that sparkled under the fluorescent lights, slipped off the bone. As if it had slept over with fried rice, little cubes of carrot, green peas and kernels of corn speckled the pile of poultry. Soon our fingers were sloshed with sauce — spicy, sweet, sliding toward the sphere of General Tso’s but with a decidedly gochujang undertone and Korean crunch. In between, we nibbled on shaved cabbage and pickled radish. Order ‘til midnight on school nights and ‘til nearly 2 a.m. on weekends.

KKO KKO Place

• 11113 Pacific Highway SW, Lakewood, 253-584-1865, kkokkoplace.com
• Wednesday-Thursday 4 p.m.-midnight, Friday-Saturday 4 p.m.-1:30 a.m.
• Details: Korean restaurant known for late-night fried chicken; order ahead by phone