ChickenShack, $6.29 at Shake Shack

The bird: Danny Meyer’s burger joint’s entry keeps it classic: A deep-fried breast on a buttered potato roll with pickles, shredded lettuce and herb mayo.

The word: The chicken, fried to order, has a great crunch. The coating is quite thick, but the generous amount of briny pickles helps cut through the grease. It’s a manageable, easy-to-gobble size.

One quibble: It could have used a touch more sauce, and the chicken breast was a bit dry in some bites. Available only at Shake Shacks in Brooklyn; go to shakeshack.com for locations.

Fried chicken Wickedwich, $9.50 at Hill Country Chicken

The bird: The fried chicken specialists recently added three new sandwiches to their lineup, this is the most pleasing, with a spicy fried cutlet, red onions, cheddar and sour pickles on a buttered potato bun.

The word: There’s a lot happening here, but the various flavors nicely pingpong against each other, and the manageable size and fairly tidy construction mean that most bites contain all the elements. Multiple locations; go to hillcountrychicken.com

Crispy Bird, $9.50 at Streetbird Rotisserie

The bird: At Marcus Samuelsson’s new Harlem dinette, the fried chicken is smothered in an intriguing barbecue sauce made with honey and coffee, and topped with melted cheddar, a thick slice of tomato, lettuce and pickles.

The word: “It’s like wings on a sandwich,” a colleague exclaimed, and that’s an apt description for this saucy number. The chicken is superjuicy, but the elements don’t quite all come together. The cheese is lost amid the powerful sauce, the tomato slice is much too thick, and the pickles — cut into rectangular stalks instead of thin slices — don’t figure into most bites. 2149 Frederick Douglass Blvd.; 212-206-2557

Spicy fried chicken sandwich, $8 at Fuku

The bird: David Chang’s latest project has the city aflutter with its massive chicken thigh marinated in habanero-pepper puree, coated in buttermilk and dredged in spices. The behemoth rests on a potato bun that’s been spread with Fuku butter — a mix of butter, pureed pickles, garlic and other fermented elements — and topped with a couple of house-made pickles.

The word: This is a truly divine piece of fried chicken. It’s wonderfully crispy, delightfully spicy and quite juicy — thanks to the fact that it’s a thigh rather than the typical breast. It hardly fits on its potato roll, but no matter, this bird flies high on its own. 163 First Ave.; no phone

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Chicken Buddies, $11 at El Cortez

The bird: This new sorta-Mexican/definitely hipster spot in Bushwick serves its sammies as four sliders on a skewer. The white-meat bird bites are on miniature potato rolls and adorned with the standard lettuce, pickles and mayo.

The word: Bushwick may be a neighborhood for artists and creatives, but there’s little interesting or appetizing about this sandwich. The meat is dry and not crispy, the pickles are scarce, and the seasoning is lacking. These chicken buddies are no friend of mine. 17 Ingraham St., Bushwick, Brooklyn; 347-599-2976