Central New York- Would You Call This Utica Chicken Riggies?

In a world where everyone can cook at home and post pictures of their dinners online- would you call this dish Utica Chicken Riggies in Central New York?

The photo was posted on the ALDI Aisle of Shame Community Facebook group on January 17th:

Got the red bag chicken to eat with my chicken riggies and Utica greens!!! Anyone else from upstate NY?"

So, to decipher this photo....It appears the person has rigatoni pasta, some sort of vodka sauce covering part of the noodles, Utica greens, and chopped up chicken in the corner of the plate.

Would you truly call this dish Chicken Riggies?

Chicken Riggies are known to have chicken chopped up and mixed with the sauce. Also, you'll find peppers, onions, and sometimes olives mixed together. This photo doesn't really show that. The chicken also seems like a chicken patty, vs the normal chicken you see in this classic dish.

I don't want to knock the chefs choice of wanting to cook a Central New York classic, but if we were Gordon Ramsay judging this dish, it would fail to make the connection to riggies. Also, a pet peeve of this author, photos of pasta dishes where sauce doesn't cover every single noodle. That drives me absolutely insane.

Yes, it has some sort of vodka sauce. Also yes, they score points for having two classic Utica dishes on one plate. However, the execution seems to have fell flat. This dish is more like vodka sauce pasta, greens, and chicken. At no point would this author call it chicken riggies.

Someone commented with the following on the post:

Just like Bella Regina’s fried chicken riggies!"

Bella Regina is definitely home of some of the best riggies. To put them in the same sentence as this photo seems like trying to put Starbucks in a sentence with my Walmart coffee.

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