On The Right Track

Boxcar Betty’s Roth Scott and Ian MacBryde created a recipe for success by creating a chicken sandwich that marries local farm freshness with modern quick-service efficiency, and the feisty attitude of fictional workers’ rights character Boxcar Betty. The restaurant just opened in the former Olympik Restaurant and Bakery space on Savannah Highway.
“About two years ago I saw a photo of a real good-looking fried chicken sandwich,” recalls Scott. “Every one loves fried chicken sandwiches, but no one was doing them in modern, quick service format with fresh, antibiotic-free and free range chicken. We source all our ingredients as locally as possible, and our buns are fresh-baked from Browns Court Bakery (in downtown Charleston).”
According to MacBryde, Boxcar Betty’s small menu is designed to focus on quality of those items. “We want to increase our consistency and quality of products. It’s better to do a handful of menu items brilliantly than a bunch of things that are all mediocre,” he says.
The two met while working at Magnolia’s Restaurant. Scott has 20 experience years in the restaurant business, MacBryde has 10. With help from Burke High School culinary instructor, Ira G. Hill, the duo perfected a fried chicken recipe that could rival any old family classic.
The house specialty is The Boxcar. It starts with a fried chicken breast, topped with peach coleslaw, spicy mayonnaise, and house-made pickles on a fresh-baked bun. For those seeking hot and tangy flavors, there’s the buffalo. Its fried chicken breast is topped with buffalo sauce, blue cheese spread, lettuce, and tomato on a fresh-baked bun. The chicken and waffle sandwich features tomato, maple bacon sauce, bacon jam, and pimiento cheese on a fresh-baked bun.
There are also build-your-own sandwiches. Customers start by picking a chicken or mushroom base, then picking a cheese: cheddar slice, Swiss slice, or pimiento spread. Next they choose toppings: bacon jam, peach coleslaw, Bibb lettuce, pickles, shallots, watermelon radishes, and/or tomatoes. Finally, they can add one of the following house-made sauces: agave-buttermilk, blue cheese spread, barbecue, mayonnaise, ranch, sweet chili, buffalo, brown mustard, spicy mayonnaise, and maple bacon. “We have some originality in our sauces, but none are too ‘far out’,“ says Scott.
Salads start with a bed of Bibb lettuce, shallots, watermelon radishes, and agave-buttermilk dressing. They are topped with the customer’s choice of fried chicken or a fried pimiento-cheese stuffed Portobello. Extras include chicken tenders, hand-cut triple-cooked fries, hand-cut triple-cooked sweet potato fries, and peach coleslaw.
The drink options are simple too — iced tea, Coke products, lemonade, and water. Draft beer may be on the way soon. The desserts are ice cream floats, which is a scoop of vanilla in the customer’s choice of soda, and the pecan pie in a cup. This pecan pie nixes the crust and just delivers a delectable combination of crunchy, sweet candied pecans over a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Boxcar Betty’s has an old-school roadside diner ambiance. According to Scott, the standalone space on a major roadway was ideal for their quick-service concept. At night, the letters are illuminated by a spotlight, on a façade that intentionally echoes a dark green boxcar with natural wood doors. Behind this façade there’s two bright yellow benches framing the front door. Inside, there’s about 10 small tables with weathered chairs and re-purposed wood accent walls. There’s fresh rosemary in mason jars at the center of the tables. In the rear dining room, there’s a large mural of a train yard in Erie, Penn. Other walls are decorated with signed Shepard Fairey posters.
Boxcar Betty’s is located at 1922 Savannah Hwy. It is open everyday from 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
For more information, call 225-7470 or visit online at www.boxcarbettys.com,
on twitter @BoxcarBettysCHS, and
Facebook at “boxcarbettys.”