Sticky's Finger Joint

Sticky's Finger Joint bills itself as "New York's first variety gourmet chicken fingers joint," and it works, it totally works. We tried the classic (top), with enough breading to support but not overshadow the uber-moist chicken, like a guidance counselor who takes an interest in a wayward student in junior high before he/she falls in with a really bad crowd. We also got the salted caramel (below), which saw the boneless strips dipped in caramel, then covered with pretzels and pretzel salt. Not too sweet but not too savory either, weird enough to order as a joke but good enough to try the next time we're there, if we don't get sidetracked by the other unique flavors like General Sticky Tso, with chili peppers, soy sauce, and honey.

And mad props go to one of the owners, who came over and introduced himself, bumping his elbow to ours, because our hands were knuckle-deep in chicken and fries, both regular (fine) and string bean (truly excellent, with enough crunch to delude us into thinking that these batter-dipped things might actually be really good for us). "Fingers4Life," Sticky's website says. Right on.