Fried and True

by: Michelle Kahan, New Jersey Monthly December 2004

    Late one night in 1997, Rutgers Sophomore Darrell Butler stood outside the RU Hungry food truck in New Brunswick.  Fueled by Hunger but low on cash, Butler ordered a sandwich of chicken fingers, mozzerella sticks and french fries.  The concoction looked so appetizing that equally famished students in line behind him followed his lead.  Soon a legend was born:  the Fat Darrell.  "I was just trying to be cheap" says Butler who now resides in Eatontown.  "I figured they were all going to the same place...so why not put them together?"

    Butler's creation recently made culinary history of sorts when Maxim named it the top sandwich in the country.  Still, the sandwich's namesake - he's now a personal trainer, of all things - doesn't exactly recommmend the Fat Darrell to his diet conscious clients.  "You couldn't eat one every day" Butler says, "It's pretty unhealthy (but you can do anything in moderation)."