By Joe Holleman
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Do you lie awake at night, nervous about cholesterol? Wring your hands over saturated fats? Count calories like accountants track pennies?

Then it’s probably been a while since you’ve had fried chicken. In these health-conscious times, it just doesn’t show up on many diets.

In recent years, several places noted for the dish have shut their doors: Mary’s in south St. Louis; Romine’s on the North Side; Red Cedar Inn in Pacific; and Big Boy’s in Wright City, to name a few.

But on some vestigial level, the human body still cries out for yardbird — cut in pieces, salted and seasoned, dragged through egg and flour, then dropped into boiling fat or a greased iron skillet.

Get it at a buffet, or as part of a family-style serving, or just over the counter in a cardboard bucket. It’s all good. (And milk gravy makes it even better!)

But in these non-frying times, how will people know who still serves up the best versions of this venerable repast? Enter the dedicated staff of the Post-Dispatch.

We don’t want to do this on a wing (ouch!) and a prayer, so we want you to vote for their favorite fried chicken restaurant. We’ve listed 12 candidates. If your pick is not listed, please submit it by using the comment function. (Note: we’re not looking for ambience, or cool side dishes. And we don’t mean chicken fingers, chicken nuggets or chicken planks We’re talking about birds with bones here.)

Then after the votes are tallied — and we hit the gym for a month of hard-core cardio to prepare — we’ll pick the top talliers and offer our own ratings:

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