This is not really an intended series, but another outstanding hole-in-the-wall establishment is Chirping Chicken on 77th and Amsterdam.

It's one thing to serve great food. Subjecting that food to delivery raises an entirely new layer of issues. How well does the food travel? How is it packaged? Does it stay the way it should be? Does it get cold? Does it come fast enough? Does the food become agitated during delivery and then lose its distinctive characteristics by being mixed with side dishes? All of these are potential problems.

Chirping Chicken scored well on all fronts. The white meat chicken was extremely moist and pleasantly flavorful without any sauces or ketchup. The side green salad featured a mixture of greens, shredded carrots and tomato. The French fries, shoestring variety, were crisp and most importantly their styrofoam packaging preserved them well. The chicken also traveled marvelously, not losing any of its flavor or moisture along the way. (The salad was fine too, but salad is less challenged by delivery.)

In fact, this chicken was just as good or better as that delivered from City Grill or Dallas Barbeque--far fancier (that is an understatement) establishments with real tables and service. If you walk by Chirping Chicken, you cannot believe this place dishes out some of the best (and best-traveling) food on the Upper West Side.