[Chicken Sandwich Battle] Chick-fil-A versus Popeye's

I thought Shipley's was a freight company? For great donuts, try KC Donuts on Brodie Lane in Southwest Austin. When they are fresh? Killer. Of course, freshness is key to all great donuts.

It's in the same strip center that harbors Evangeline's, the best Cajun restaurant in Austin, in my humble opinion. Their cocktail sauce makes me break out in a sweat and I can't stop eating it. Their shrimp poor boys are to die for. Their lunch menu is one of the best values in Austin.

Hey! This isn't a donut thread! I'm bowing out with a tip of the hat to "chicken sandwiches."

 

Killen's did it when they first opened. I just called and they don't do it anymore.

 

You're mad.

 

This was mine: Gourmet version of the Jumbaco.

 

I see where this is going... Bracket with personal pizzas top and bottom.

 

I finally made to Micos! Yes medium would have been hot enough for me, if they didn't use so much sugar. I think it'd take the max heat level to balance out that much sweetness. Way, way too much sugar for me. Batter is pretty loose, don't mind that too much. Crispy enough. They also skimped on the slaw on mine, compared to others I see pictured in reviews, would have liked more of that.

They're kind of at a disadvantage vs. places where your chicken is fried to order, or where you can request it so at least. For as many customers as Mico's is serving in a row, I was surprised to see a giant bin of fried chicken sitting under a heat lamp. They must pre fry a ton of it anticipating the rush, so they can just focus on assembly when the line is super backed up. Was a big, meaty piece of chicken indeed, but wasn't fresh as it could & should be, so a little on the dry side from the heat lamp for however long. Guess they're still new, they'll refine procedures and figure that part out I'm sure.

The buns were great, but buns being the best thing about the sandwich, can't put it among my top tier. Especially for over twice the price, I probably won't go back. But I just must not be a nashville chicken fan, and the above critiques clearly only matter to me, because everyone seems to love it as evidenced by reviews and the length of that line. Still enjoyed the experience.

 

Huh, that sucks. I wonder how much (and what kind) of sweetener they're using. I just looked up my recipe (which reminded me I need to make some again), and it only calls for 1 tablespoon of either light brown sugar or honey or combo per whole cut up chicken (8-10 pieces)

 

I would have guessed brown sugar, but I think this was just regular granulated white sugar. It was so much, and was not caramelized or even dissolved that you could actually see & feel the crystals. Maybe something was just off this day... too many people love it, for it to be this bad on a regular basis.

Edit- bad is an overstatement... I just wouldn't get it again even if it were $4 instead of $9.

 

Yeah, that ain't right. Curious how long they've been open and when they got really popular. That can throw a huge monkey wrench in a restaurant's operations; you just get settled in and the kinks worked out and then all the sudden you're selling 5x as much stuff.

 

That's absolutely what happened to them. They just opened a few months ago I think, just in time for the popeyes sandwich craze that put them into overdrive. That's when they said they started running out of buns, bakery couldn't keep up.

 

So because of this discussion I drove past a KFC today and decided to try it. Haven't been to one in years. I am currently regretting my decision every 20-30 minutes.

 

Oh ****, that was a hammer...."gonna slow open my hot chicken place and then WHAMMMOOO Popeyes makes everyone want spicy chicken sammiches!!!!"

I feel bad for those guys, I've seen the story before. Give them another chance in a few weeks.

...or frankly, if they can't handle it, they need to sell the concept to someone who can.

 

Yeah I went to Micos a few weeks ago too. Too greasy and too much batter. The chicken was too big for the buns. Didnt like it.

 

fapping to food pr0n is also good

 

We're both outliers, it would seem.

 

Have found two traits common with the two very best spicy chicken sandwiches: 1. antibiotic free chicken, and 2. spice is actually in the breading, not just a spicy sauce added to it, like fuddruckers, mcd's, dairy queen, arbys, just sauce. Then you have JiTB, carls jr, and BK who do have spiced breading, but there is a significant drop off in ingredient quality with them, the chicken in particular.

One thing MIcos does get right with their nashville style is cole slaw in the sandwich, even if their slaw isn't great, the idea is right... the best one I've had, and this is beyond ridiculous, but first stopping at raising canes for a small slaw to put on a wendy's spicy (hold the lettuce, tomato, and mayo). Well worth the $1 upgrade, if not your time.

 

Thing I like about antibiotic free chicken is that I'll get less fat while I order two of them

 

Idk about that but there is a difference. Even animals can detect- those in store roasted chickens in HEB, they have bbq, regular etc. My cats won't touch, only their "natural" version. Also hormone free , might be that.

 

^I wont pretend that wasn't where I sourced it.

Yeah that's the deal, and you never realize what you signed up for until you're nearing the last bite, at the earliest. THat sinking feeling, down deep. All that factors into it for me, best last bite >>> best first bite. Even though for example the lauded popeye's sandwich was well spec'd in every category- most impressive heavy/coarse breading, among the best buns and pickles etc. and the first bite does blow you away, you ultimately feel exactly like you do after a couple pieces of theirs, or any other big chain's chicken really.

With Wendy's and CFA, I never get that feeling. And between those two, CFA at more than a dollar cheaper is the best value. CFA is also more consistent, but wendy's has the higher ceiling- you'll never get a bad CFA, but when you get a perfect made to order wendy's, it is better. Both are similar mildish heat levels, but wendy's has CFA on spice depth, bun quality, pickle quality (Shocked cfa still uses those dark translucent green prison grade pickles!) for the few of us who do those nasty flappy things. When I can get some RC's slaw in there, I even leave pickles out of the mix...







I'm now done with this tour. Not going to bother with the wingz restaurants' versions or any of the others who (as you'd imagine all theirs are merely slathered with wing sauce vs. spice in the breading), checkers, red robin etc. wont bother with, or make any more FOOD TRUCK sandwich trips after micos.