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Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken on the way via Memphis

Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken - the staple that grew out of a roadside shack in Mason, Tenn. - is on a franchising spree that will take it to Philadelphia this year.

Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken - the staple that grew out of a roadside shack in Mason, Tenn. - is on a franchising spree that will take it to Philadelphia this year.

I wish I had more information for you than that, but company officials dropped the word on their Facebook page with no elaboration as to exact location. I hear that a summer location is planned and that franchisees have a lease in their hands ready to sign. Stay tuned.

Also on the chain's list of openings are Atlanta, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Fort Worth, Knoxville, Kansas City, Kan., and Chicago.

Gus's - which traces its roots to 1953 and is now based in Memphis, 40 miles from its roots - appears on many best-of lists.

Ed Levine of Serious Eats waxed about the birds: "Gus's Chicken is still perfect, crisp golden-brown on the outside, moist and succulent on the inside, and salted and seasoned with just enough cayenne pepper to let you know it's there."

Saveur could not score the recipe but published an approximation; it's here.