Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken opened Jan. 23 in Germantown, just before or past Soul Fish, depending on the direction you’re driving. And just like that, arguably the two best Southern foods are within a stone’s throw of each other at Poplar and Forest Hill Irene.

Barbecue believers, there’s room for you, too, when we have this discussion, but that’s for another day.

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This is a new Gus’s, but doesn’t actually increase the number of local Gus’s (still five) because it replaces the Collierville location that owner Wendy McCrory closed last week; the historic building in Collierville requires such expensive renovation she decided that moving was a more realistic solution.

On Saturday, the place was hopping despite a reservation-only policy for the friends and family opening designed to keep the crowd down. But what are you gonna do? People want their fried chicken and when do they want it? The answer is now.

I took Daily Memphian reporter Abigail Warren with me. She covers Collierville and Germantown, and while she feels like she must’ve eaten Gus’s chicken at some point in her life, she’s not sure of it.

“Living in Memphis my entire life maybe, but consciously, this was the first time,” she said.

It was a good day for it. The chicken was on point, mahogany crust so crisp it might shatter, meat tender and juicy and everything fried chicken is expected to be. The spicy level was on the lower side — I ate Gus’s the week before and the difference was a few Scoville units, or whatever we might choose to measure Gus’s heat level.

“Everyone says the chicken is spicy, and it had just a slight kick but not quite the kick I expected. The spice was just enough that I wanted more but not too much that I had to stop eating,” Warren said.

I could’ve eaten it hotter, but also would’ve been perfectly happy if it had been even milder, because good fried chicken is good, period, no matter if it’s spicy or simply seasoned. But here’s something that came as a surprise to me:

Has Gus’s always had great coleslaw?

Look, I like good coleslaw as much as the next Southerner and maybe more — if we have a big family meal, someone always makes coleslaw, whether it’s a summer barbecue or Thanksgiving. But other than with barbecue and sometimes with fried catfish, I never give it much thought in a restaurant.

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Maybe because we’ve recently had a spirited discussion on Table Talk about it, or maybe it’s just because back in the day, when Gus’s was just a tiny shack in nearby Mason, Tennessee, your chicken came with coleslaw, baked beans and white bread. Whatever the reason, I ordered coleslaw as one side and sticky and gooey mac and cheese as the other.

They were both knockouts. The coleslaw dressing was creamy but a bit watery, definitely runnier than I would make at home, and it was on the sweet side — also not the way I would make it.

All I can say is it turns out I’ve been doing it wrong, my whole family has been wrong, and this opened my mind to exploring new recipes for coleslaw, something I can’t even believe I’d ever use a recipe to make. But I will, and I’ll be paying close attention in restaurants too.

As for the mac and cheese, well, we’re doing that right, because sticky and gooey, packed in a dish and baked is how we make it and short of missing a bread crumb topping, this could’ve come from many home kitchens.

Few home cooks can make chicken like this, though. I went with thighs, which is my favorite part of the chicken anyway but particularly so when the chicken is fried. Many foods come down to the right amount of y to x, and the fried chicken thigh has the perfect ratio of crust to meat.

I didn’t mean to fall so hard into the food here, didn’t plan to write a New Eats — most of you have eaten at Gus’s, after all — but maybe it was being there with a newbie or maybe it was being in a brand new Gus’s. Whatever it was, the meal was just good all around. Stupid clucking good, to play on last week’s local catch phrase.

We even had dessert, something I’ve never done at a Gus’s. McCrory told us to save room for the chocolate chess and pecan pies, with ice cream, and to eat them together. Forewarned, we stopped eating with enough room left for a few bites of each.

As it’s COVID, after all, the days of sharing food from the same plate are over. When the pies came, I divided the chess pie and knew right away it was going to be great when the sugary crust crackled under my spoon.

And it was. So was the pecan pie, and so were they together.

Gus’s, 3100 Forest Hill Irene Road, is open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; call 901-853-6005.