Deep Fried Goodness in Minneapolis

Deep Fried Goodness is a new, student-focused spot on University Ave SE that lives up to roughly 66 percent of the promise implicit in its name.

Menu prices ($6 panini, 25 wings for $20, a $2 salad, $3 for a deep-fried Little Debbie Strawberry or Banana Roll) promise indulgence on a student budget, and when it comes to the wings, that promise is at least partially kept.

Here’s the restaurant’s pitch:

“Our always fresh never frozen wings are brined overnight. This adds moisture inside which keeps the meat tender while cooking. Next they are lightly seasoned, and finally double cooked for maximum flavor, crispiness, and of course GOODNESS!!!”

And here are the wings:

We tried a half dozen boneless BBQ-sauce dunked wings, and a half dozen regular wings with sriracha sauce. Both varieties were passable, and at $5.50 for six, a swell value. Both types lacked the grease or repulsive “microwaved sprayfoam” texture that bottom-of-the-bucket wings suffer from. The regular wings could have been a bit crisper, but their boneless counterparts had a nice crackly snap and a sweet, verging-on-but-not-quite-cloying BBQ flavor. These aren’t wings to die for, but certainly they’d be worth a sprained ankle or a bunion.

Now for the rest of this Grand Guignol of Grease.

The $2 salad tasted like a $2 salad, which makes it a roughly fair value. That the Hidden Valley ranch is provided in packet form is a feature, not a bug — at least you know what you’re dealing with, and you can glop the stuff onto your shredded iceberg lettuce tableside.

Both of the panini that we tried were among the most appalling sandwiches we’ve ever experienced. The Spicy Soprano ($5.50) was not spicy, and while it promised “black forest ham, meaty salami, pepperoni, sharp cheddar cheese, red onion, homemade chipotle mayo,” it tasted chiefly of bland luncheon meat, which is to say not much of anything at all. The Grilled Roast Beef ($5.50, above) was actually far worse — the disreputable, fatty beef was borderline rubbery. This sandwich we would load into a skeet trap and shoot with a 10-gauge, if only city regulations allowed it.

The bread was warm and crunchy, though. We can give ’em that.

The fried desserts might have been a bit better straight out of the fryer (we had ours delivered by BiteSquad, and they arrived warm, but not hot.) But no amount of molecular excitement could have changed the colossal amount of slightly-burnt-tasting breading that caked and choked our Deep Fried Strawberry Roll ($3, above). It’s difficult to think of a Little Debbie snack cake as an ingredient that can be disrespected, but this treatment came close.

And we’ll say this about the Deep Fried Cookie Dough ($3): It’s a lot like just eating the stuff out of one of those Pillsbury tubes, plus some mini M&Ms. You’re going to be inclined to finish, but you’ll loathe yourself and your entire extended family after you’re done. Don’t do it.

Deep Fried Goodness
Student fare in Minneapolis
3020 University Ave SE #101
Minneapolis, MN 55414
612.354.2280
ENTREE RANGE: $5.50-6
BAR: None
HOURS: 11am-8pm daily