Showing posts with label chicken sandwich. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicken sandwich. Show all posts

Monday, February 22, 2021

The Fast Food Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich Showdown

It sure has been a while since I posted! I've been regularly posting on Instagram but have neglected my blog. But I recently did a fun taste test and got inspired for a blog post - a showdown between six different fast food spicy chicken sandwiches! As a disclaimer, this taste test was sponsored by Boston Market, who just launched their new hot chicken sandwich and asked me to pit it against all the other ones.
Spicy chicken sandwich
With the help of Wandering Chopsticks, we picked up spicy chicken sandwiches from Boston Market, Jack In the Box, Chick-Fil-A, Wendy's, McDonald's, and Popeye's. 
Spicy chicken sandwich
 
 Boston Market
Spicy chicken sandwich
The Boston Market's sandwich is the closest to a Nashville hot chicken than the rest. The sauce to me was a cross between a Nashville hot sauce and a smoky BBQ sauce. The chicken breast was pretty thick. Perhaps because Boston Market is known for the rotisserie chicken, one thing was that we wished the breading was crispier. 
Spicy chicken sandwich
I did drive around town with the sandwiches, so it could've gotten soggy, but some of the other ones maintained the crunch better. Since the product is brand new, I hope they'll improve the breading! The spicy chicken sandwiches from the other chains, aren't Nashville hot chicken sandwiches.

Jack in the Box
Spicy chicken sandwich
When I bit into this sandwich, I barely tasted any heat. The chicken was fairly dry as well - though the lettuce and mayo helped (but they cost extra). I had ordered it with the additional toppings to temper the spiciness, but apparently I needn't have worried about that. 

Friday, September 4, 2015

Fried Chicken and Donuts at Do-Rite (Chicago, IL)

Angelenos already know the name Jeff Mahin from the great burrata and pizza at Stella Barra (and DC and Maryland folks are familiar with his Summer House Santa Monica), but few have been lucky enough to try his donuts. Jeff Mahin's Do-Rite Donuts are currently only in Chicago, unfortunately for those of us who don't live there.

My favorite donut there so far: Cinnamon crunch raised donut. This donut has layers of cinnamon streusel hiding within!

Do-Rite
The raised dough itself had a great texture that I really liked, but the key for me, a cinnamon lover, is obviously all the cinnamon streusel I keep discovering with each bite.

The Erie St location of Do-Rite also serves various fried chicken sandwiches. I had a hard time choosing what do order (Chef Mahin's favorite is the spicy fried chicken), but I finally decided on The CBR (fried chicken with bacon and cheddar on brioche)
Do-Rite Donuts
A nice, filling sandwich for only $5.99. The chicken was tender and the breading was really crispy. Even with the fried chicken and crisped bacon, the sandwich wasn't greasy and nicely held together by the buttery brioche bun. Oh, they also have fried chicken sandwiches using glazed donuts as buns, if you are so inclined!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Smashburger Comes to Culver City

Smashburger is the brainchild of Tom Ryan, who has 20 years as a fast food executive under his belt, from Quizno's to McDonald's. Before all that, though, he had a PhD in Flavor and Fragrance Chemistry, and it showed in all his creative new ideas. You'll see his idea for Smashburger in just a bit.

Smashburger creates a special burger for different locations, and the one we have, the L.A. Burger, happens to be my favorite out of the few burgers I tried. The LA Burger combines the ethnic influences we have in this town with crispy wonton, fried egg, cilantro, cucumber, lettuce, tomato and Japanese steakhouse ginger dressing on a black and white sesame seed bun.

LA Burger
It may sound kind of weird, but this was a delicious and interesting combo. The price point is very friendly as well at $5.99 for a regular (you can also go "big" or "double").

So, back to Tom Ryan's idea and the name of Smashburger. The beef patty at Smashburger is literally smashed. They do this to create space so the heat can percolate up more evenly. The patty is then seasoned while searing.
We tasted the patty on its own right of the griddle and you get this really beefy taste.

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