By Stacey Patton Wallace
This week, I’m reviewing my favorite chicken finger restaurant in Lee County. Now, I know that I’ve said several times that I prefer chicken on the bone, but sometimes I want chicken fingers. There’s less work involved in eating chicken fingers because you don’t have to navigate around bones in order to avoid dental mishaps. This is important to me because I’ve had extensive dental work, so I try to chew cautiously. Mike and I figure we’ve probably paid for at least the first year of college for our dentist’s oldest child.
That being said … my favorite chicken finger restaurant in Lee County is Foosackly’s for a number of reasons, which I will elaborate on later. Our good friends Jack and William introduced us to Foosackly’s at 131 N. Dean Road in Auburn.
I was curious about the restaurant’s unusual name, so this 20th century woman trapped in the 21st century used Google to do a little research. All right, I do admit that I use Google often. I’m sorry to say that it’s a lot easier and faster to find information on Google than it was to look it up in our family’s trusty set of World Book Encyclopedias. However, I did love those 20-plus volumes, which took up quite a bit of shelf space.
According to Google, “The chain’s unusual name came from the difficult to pronounce name of the owner, Will Fusaiotti, who liked the way ‘Foosackly’ sounded.” There you go. I love that the restaurant refers to its employees as the “Foo Crew.” Also, their motto is: “Can’t Fake The Foo.” You certainly cannot. In fact, Foosackly’s won the 2021 Nappies (Lagniappe Readers’ Choice Awards) for the best chicken fingers. I will admit that I haven’t heard of this award, but it is well deserved.
Foosackly’s chicken fingers are so delicious. They’re lightly breaded, which I prefer. I don’t like to dive through ten layers of breading before I find the chicken. If I’m really hungry, I order the Box, which includes five fingers, French fries, coleslaw, toast and one sauce. If I’m trying to be “good,” which isn’t easy because I’m a fried chicken freak, I order the Bigger Snack, which has three fingers. Foosackly’s is unique because it has a variety of Housemade Sauces which include: Foo Sauce (we love it), Real Honey Mustard, Buttermilk Ranch, Sweet & Spicy Kung Foo, Smoky BBQ and Classic Buffalo.
Also, to give your fries a tasty kick, for just $1, the Foo Crew will pour melted queso cheese over them; wonderful!
In addition, the Foo is FAST. Whenever Mike and I get takeout at Foosackly’s we ALWAYS get our food in less than two minutes. Once we clocked them at less than one minute. That’s the fastest service we’ve seen anywhere and not at just chicken finger restaurants. Also, we appreciate the fact that the Foo Crew is always smiling, upbeat and kind.
I admire the fact that Foosackly’s is very community minded. The restaurant has fundraiser nights for various organizations. Also, I think it’s great that the owner closes his restaurant to give his employees special days off to spend with their families. Foosackly’s is closed on: New Year’s Day, Easter Sunday, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. That’s very rare for a fast food restaurant to close on all those days.
Other than the previous days I mentioned, Foosackly’s is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. So run, do not walk for the best chicken fingers in Lee County. Your mouth will be happy.
Foosackly’s makes the grade with an A+ from this retired English teacher. Remember, “Pooh-sized” people don’t lie about food. Enjoy!
Stacey Patton Wallace, who retired from teaching language arts for 30 years, is a professional diner. Her column, “Making the Grade,” will appear each week in the Observer. Stacey may be reached at retiredlangartsteacher2020@gmail.com.