Chef Ian Rosenstrauch has a thing for fried chicken. And we should all be grateful for that.

A former line cook at New York City’s Rainbow Room, who then worked for three years as a butcher and gardener at The French Laundry in Yountville, he would go home at the end of his shift and crave fried chicken so much that he’d fry up a batch to eat. Even at 2 a.m. — when he had to be back at work at 7 a.m.

One day, he got the notion to come up with the ultimate fried chicken sandwich. And that was that. He jumped all in, quitting his job a month later, and buying a used food truck that he tricked out, himself, after watching YouTube videos.

He knew he was on to something when he was asked to cater the holiday party for the staff at Michelin-starred Press in St. Helena.

He served the fried chicken sandwich, of course. “They lost their minds!” over it, he recounted proudly. That was no easy feat when you consider that tough crowd included former colleagues of his from The French Laundry.

That’s how Joella’s Deli was born two years ago. He named it after his grandmother, whom he jokes, never cooked anything in her life, but nevertheless whose love had a profound impact on his life.

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