The New Restaurant Where You Never Have to “Add Grilled Chicken”

Adding "grilled chicken" to a salad has been an "I'm eating healthy" cue for ages. But at this new healthy fast-casual restaurant, you won't ever have to say it. It's on everything.

Fields Good Chicken, which opened at the end of June in the Financial District, applies a new-school approach to the old-school concept, pairing higher-quality chicken with lots of fresh produce and and better-for-you grains like quinoa and brown rice. It's like Dig Inn meets Sweetgreen...with a crazy amount of chicken.

The concept, built with scalability in mind, came to chef-owner Field Failing after he left a career in finance to become a pro-cyclist (and then worked for David Burke). "I soon discovered that eating well felt just as difficult as biking 130 miles a day," he says. Fields is obviously a labor of love for him, and when I visited, he was literally on the line grilling the chicken during the daily lunch rush.

On the menu, you'll find salads, bowls, and sandwiches, all of which feature chicken made with light sauces like Yakitori and Maple Chipotle. I had the Christina's Kale Salad, made with Yakitori chicken, kale, quinoa, avocado, pickled onions, sesame veggies, and tamari ginger vinaigrette, and it was super fresh and flavorful. Particularly the chicken, which was juicy, herb-infused, and perfectly cooked.

In terms of sourcing, Fields uses Freebird Antibiotic Free Chicken—the most common choice among mainstream healthier chicken joints—which is free of antibiotics and hormones but is not organic (so the chickens may eat GMO corn and soy). The produce is vibrant and locally-sourced when possible (but also not organic).

And the space itself features limited seating but leans towards grab-and-go, with a simple, clean design concept that mirrors the menu.

Oh, and don't worry, if you ask for something to be made vegetarian, they promise they won't call you a chicken. —Lisa Elaine Held

For more information, visit www.fieldsgoodchicken.com