Iwakuni Foodie

If you’ve been here for a little while, you’ve probably already heard about California Chicken.

Boy does this place bring back lots of memories…..of the days when I used to party until 3 or 4 in the morning and head on over to California’s for a bag of chicken to take home. Yes, the Marines used to be able to party all night here. And California Chicken used to open at around 9 or 10pm and stay open until 3 or 4am. Now they open around 5pm and I’m not sure what time they close. My guess would be around 1am since the most of his customers have to be out of the bars by midnight. The owner has watched me grow from a party girl into a girl who rarely stays up past 10pm anymore. I do make an exception every now and then and have been known to party until midnight. I know. Pretty impressive huh?

Now that I am done impressing you, I suppose I should tell you a little more about California Chicken. The chicken is amazing. Especially after you’ve been drinking. You know you gotta have that drunk food. Everyone has a spot they go to after drinking. Right? For some, it’s Taco Bell (in the States….and I don’t get it) and for a lot of people here in Iwakuni, it’s California Chicken.

Here are a couple of shots of the menu –

The hot dogs are pretty good. I haven’t tried the spicy one, but I hear that it is very spicy! The fries are really good (I crave fries when I drink) and the fried rice is also pretty amazing!

Oh! I had to take a picture of this because I have never heard of this or seen it anywhere else.

Mountain Dew Grape! I don’t like Mountain Dew, but I love the pretty purple can!! This vending machine is in California Chicken.

Okay. Back to the food. I am so easily distracted sometimes.

I used to always get the bag of chicken with the mayo/ketchup sauce. Mmmmm. So good. Now that I am older and trying (I did say “trying”) to be a little better about what I eat at midnight, I usually get the chicken sandwich and share it. Not to say that you shouldn’t have the chicken because you absolutely should! Just go at 5pm and get it for dinner instead. Andy got a bag of chicken and Kelly and I got a chicken sandwich.

Chicken sandwich.

Big time fail on this picture of the bag of chicken….but you can see what kind of bag it comes in.

Then I got smart and just took a piece out and set it on the bag.

We took our food to our favorite little karaoke place by the base, Niagara. It’s not very big, but we love the guys who work there. And we just love to sing. It’s 200yen per song. Oh. AND they let us bring our food in and take pictures of it and eat it.

What a great evening. I’m really going to miss my friend Kelly and her goofy husband, Andy.

It’s one thing I don’t like about being on a military base……saying goodbye. We didn’t say goodbye though because we are already making plans of seeing each other again very soon.

To get to California Chicken, go out the main gate and go straight through the intersection after the railroad tracks. Once you go through, you’ll keep going straight for just a little bit (maybe not even a minute if you are driving). California Chicken is on your right side. Just look for the American Flag and the California sign –

Great food and the owner is a wonderful, friendly guy!