Mornin’, everybody! I have an update for you in the on-going chicken wars (important, since it is a proven fact that many photographers and Photoshop user consume chicken sandwiches). Since my last post, I wanted to re-test some of the top-tier chicken sandwiches in the battle and see if after a few weeks I still felt the same way (especially about Zaxby’s being the winner, being at least as good if not better than Popeyes). Briefly, here’s how it went down:
Burger King
I’m moving this one up a spot in my rankings, perhaps even over KFC’s excellent new chicken sandwich, but primarily for one reason: Burger King’s sauce is better. KFC’s is more like just mayo, where Burger King went more the route of what Popeyes (and Zaxby’s) is using. It’s a very large, very crunchy chicken, and I’m thinking this has moved into the #2-ish spot (behind Popeyes and Zaxbys who are tied are very close to tied. More on this in a sec).
McDonalds
I just retried this one yesterday and it was actually pretty tasty overall, but it’s losing the war here for two reasons: (1) The chicken patty itself is really small. The whole sandwich is small in comparison to the other. My sister-in-law nailed it when she said “It looks like it should be on the value menu.” It’s similar in size to a McDonald’s cheeseburger (not a Quarter Pounder, a regular cheeseburger). And (2) it’s called the Crispy Chicken Sandwich and it’s well-named. It’s just a bit crispy. It’s not crunchy like Burger King’s, Popeye’s and Zaxby’s. So, while it’s fairly tasty, it’s not “big and crunchy” which kind of takes it out of the running in the Chicken Wars. However, I read an article yesterday about how much people are liking the new chicken sandwich and how it’s helped McDonald’s sales, so it is definitely an improvement overall, which is a good thing.
Popeyes
I revisited a local Popeyes and it’s still really great any way you look at it (and they’re the reason the war started in the first place). I still do think it’s their bun. They’re something magical about it. They could put their bun on the menu by itself and people would probably order it. Their side dishes are kind of ‘meh’ but their sandwich is still pretty incredible.
Zaxby’s
There are over 400 locations out there, but sadly mostly East Coast and Midwest, and there’s a few in Utah for some reason, and that’s about it, which is a shame because I gone back (a few times now) and I’m telling you — if I had to pick one, even over Popeyes, it would be Zaxby’s. They have it all, and they are taking the Chicken Wars VERY serious (their staff uniforms are camouflage. I am not making this up). Their sauce is the boss — their bun is great. It’s big and very crunchy, and all these restaurants were lined up beside each other so I could choose any one, including Popeye’s, I would still go to Zaxbys — double and triple re-confirmed as the winner.
KFC
This one moved down a notch swapping spots with Burger King (who moved up). Their chicken is top notch — the bun is great — the pickle sublime — it’s big and crunchy, but their sauce is (as I mentioned earlier) kinda boring. Still, a great choice (even with the boring mayo-like sauce, because their chicken and bun are top notch, and size and crunchiness are on point). If they offered a different sauce choice, I think they could win it all. Plus, KFC’s sales of these new chicken sandwiches are reportedly up big-time, so people are super digging them!
So, that’s a quick update. I get lots of emails and comments (and people telling me, “You need to try that particular one again…” so I made another pass, and there was only one change — Burger King is on the rise, which is not easy for this Non-Burger King fan to say, but they have a great sandwich and there’s a Burger King fairly close to my house, which is not a great thing because it’s a tad too-convenient.
Wendys
This is only sandwich I did not re-try. I had tried two already — I bought a 2nd one because I thought there must have been a mistake with the order on the first one and they gave me their old chicken sandwich. When I bought the 2nd one, I kid you not — I took two bites and threw it away. It’s awful. I don’t know what in the heck you have to do to a chicken sandwich to make it awful, but Wendys (whom I otherwise love), somehow found a way. Yeeech!
Here’s two music videos of the same great song
Kalebra and I love Bruno Mars — his music, his dancing, his lyrics, and his joy while he’s performing. He’s just incredibly talented (I surprised Kalebra a few years back with a birthday trip to Vegas to see him perform live, and he was just fantastic!) Well, he teamed up with Anderson Paak to create the group “Silk Sonic” and their single (which has been out a few months now), called “Leave the door open” is just awesome! It’s like an old 1970s Chi-Lites song (Have you seen her?) or the Spinner’s “Could it be I’m falling in love” or the Manhattan’s songs (like, Let’s just Kiss and Say Goodbye), kind of in that genre but with today’s recording technology.
Beside and musicianship and incredible vocals, but lyrics are kind of hilarious (in a good way), as is their performance (it doesn’t come off as silly, it’s cute) and their personalities really come through in both videos.
First, here’s the official music video (note: it already has 176-million views!).
But after you watch that, watch this performance from the recent Grammy Award’s show where they totally nail the Temptations style choreography and overall 1970s TV show performance vibe, look and feel. You’ll dig it (and you get to hear a really great song again).
There’s only 11 copies left in stock of my book, “It’s a Jesus Thing”
I wrote a book about Jesus a while back (video above), and Amazon does have the print version in stock, but there are only 11-copies left in stock, so if you know someone who might get a lot from a book like this (a book for “Wanna-believers”), or you think you might want a copy for yourself, here’s the link (of course, you can always get a Kindle version since they are always in stock). If you watch the video above, one of the bonuses is you get to see what I look like with more hair and an Ibanez guitar t-shirt that somehow I lost, and now I’m kinda wondering what happened to it, and now that’s opened a whole can of worms and I won’t be able to sleep tonight wondering what happened to that shirt.
Have a really great weekend, everybody! Here’s wishing you good heath and happiness (and some great tunes to take you into the weekend). :)
-Scott
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