Dip in egg and dredge in flour yet again....

Then dry a few minutes and fry.

another possibility is to use a thin pancake batter instead of egg for the first dip, then flour.

I do mine like yours, but I let it sit for a little longer, maybe 20 - 30 minutes (usually because I get sidetracked). I also cook in cast iron, but I don't know if that makes a difference.

Whatever is missing is something in the process. I could see the breading station from the front counter. There was no double dipping or resting. Just flour, milk/egg wash, flour, then into the oil.

Linda, I have tried a tempura batter before and that was... interesting. I use self rising flour in my pancake batter. I might give that a try.

It has to do with the kind of oil and the temperature of the oil. Long time ago, it was Crisco that made that kind of crust. Not healthy, though.

Susan, I had not considered the oil. I use store brand vegetable oil and fry at 350. They use peanut oil at the restaurant.

I don't do any deep frying, except for deep fried turkeys and they have no coating, but a few times I've had to fry the turkey in an oil other than peanut because someone had a peanut allergy and there is no comparison. Peanut oil gives a 100% better result (at least for turkey)!

Can you define flaky? I get a similar look and plenty of crunch using Japanese panko that are large kind of A-frame shaped pieces. That's flour, egg, panko, pan. I also get good crunch, but a slightly heavier texture using American (smaller, rounder) panko or matzah crumbs.

Instead of brining, you should soak the meat in buttermilk, or else do a dry salt rub. Then after the flour, dip in egg with no milk. Step #5 should be dipping in a mixture of bread crumbs (or Panko) mixed with flour. That's how I've done it, but it still might result in a different result than what you are looking for. I normally make a tempura batter for most of my deep frying, which has the meat going into tempura batter after the first dredging in flour. I make tempura batter with flour and beer, plus seasonings that I might want.

I've used Panko before and I do like it. The result it yields is different than what I'm looking for here. Using pure egg is a good suggestion although they don't in the restaurant. Their milk/egg wash is made from a powder and has the consistency of milk. Their flour is plain AP. All the seasoning is in the meat. Here is another photo I took:

interestint - congrats! I'm assuming they don't just look right but taste right as well? They remind me of Cheesecake Factory's chicken fingers.

Cool! So the missing ingredient was the cook's wet hands passing over the flour? :D

Yes foodonastump, the taste is great. I still brined just like I usually do. I used no seasoning in the crust. All the flavor is in the meat.