Board 8 > charGen's First Annual Chicken Run!

(+) Yeah! (+)

Genny and I are finally getting to do something I've been wanting to do for a little while now. I've been a big fan of Good Mythical Morning (Rhett & Link) for a long time, so this experiment was definitely inspired by them. It's a year or two late since the "chicken sandwich wars" is kinda over, or a least not much talked about anymore, but regardless of that we're finally doing. The goal was to collect an Original Crispy sandwich from as many fast food restaurants as possible, and then compare them side by side in a ranking competition to determine the best one. Here are the 21 restaurants:

Arby's
Bojangles
Burger King
Checkers
Chick-fil-A
Church's Chicken
Culver's
Dairy Queen
Freddy's
Hardee's
KFC
Krystal
McDonalds
Panera Bread
Popeye's
Raising Cane's
Shake Shack
Sonic
Wendy's
Whataburger
Zaxbys

Apologies to Jack in the Box and White Castle but we live in Atlanta so no chance for them to compete here. This is probably dinner (for a few days I imagine) so we'll try to warm the sandwiches to meet an even temperature before sampling them. Each version is the classic version, as much as I'd prefer the spicy versions a few of these places only offered originals.

ya go my popeyes

My thoughts going in are that I feel like Popeye's is a front runner as they're the OG of this war and basically created the craze. I've had MOST of these sandwiches before, and I feel like Zaxby's should be a strong contender with KFC in the mix too. Raising Cane's has what I consider the best tenders, and I know that's how they make their sandwich, but I don't really like tender sandwiches so I guess I'll be in for a hard time on that one.

This is really interesting. Im excited to hear your thoughts on each sandwich. Thats a lot of restaurants though. Are you sure you wont get tired of chicken sandwiches before the end of it?

yeah wasnt too crazy about canes, the tenders and sauce are better left out of the bread

cross the northern border for a Spicy Big Mary

_Keeby posted...

Are you sure you wont get tired of chicken sandwiches before the end of it?

That's a fair point, I hope not. I don't think so? We're taking a small break now because despite even just having one bite of each sandwich it's already getting to be a really tough task to actually get through!

Oh yeah tag

Here lies GenesisSaga

1990-2023

RIP

Cause of death: OD'ing on chicken

"It was almost worth it"

Have fun!

Wow Maniac, Genny just died.

Wow Maniac, Genny just died.

She said it was almost worth it, so it was probably fun!

For a second I thought this was about the movie

Please don't support Chick-fil-A. It's 2023, so there is really no reason. Leaving off one isn't a big deal.

I had Jollibee for the first time last week, little different and pretty good! Wasn't worth the wait lol...that line was insanity. But it was good.

Also Chesters is pretty good for something you find typically in a Gas Station. IDK if they have locations not in the large gas stations that have fast food.

Genny is still in recovery but I'm going to post the initial thoughts while I have the memory fresh. Scoring all the sandwiches from 1-100 grade scale; basically 50 is considering average and the lowest score I'd give to something I wouldn't necessarily mind having again. Anything below that, I'm making sure I don't eat again. At the end we'll compile our scores for an average weight, and also keep track of our favorite individual sandwiches.

KFC: Classic Chicken Sandwich: First sandwich drawn was from The Colonel himself.

charon: I've had good experiences with this sandwich in the past. KFC uses an above average chicken fillet for their sandwiches and it's seasoned in their traditional blend. The experience itself is one I'd say was "above average" as well. It's capable enough, but I feel like just ordering their actual chicken options is still just a better alternative if you're really in the mood for something KFC.

Grade: 74/100

Xtlm posted...

I had Jollibee for the first time last week, little different and pretty good! Wasn't worth the wait lol...that line was insanity. But it was good.

Also Chesters is pretty good for something you find typically in a Gas Station. IDK if they have locations not in the large gas stations that have fast food.

Yeah, Jollibee is another I didn't have access to (though I had never even heard of them until doing research for this project). As far as gas station stuff goes, basically our hardline was "must have a drive thru" to qualify as fast food in the sense we wanted to have. I had to take Wingstop off this list because most of them don't have a drive thru.

I live

Also the particular Panera Bread I went to had no drive thru and it was the most expensive sandwich by literally 4 bucks I feel so cheated.

Panera Bread: The Signature Take: Massively expensive (it comes with free chips though... wee!) and a bit unorthodox in comparison with the rest of this list, this sandwich features a golden brown seared chicken with parmesan crisps with garlic aioli and what they call "emerald greens" but was surely just spinach. I was initially unsure if I could include them, but we ordered this sandwich once before I was felt pretty good about it. Panera is not a typical option for "fast food", but they fit the bill since most (though apparently not all) locations have a drive thru and all the standard speed of normal fast food joints.

The sandwich wasn't quite as good as I remembered, but still very edible. The chicken has a unique flavor and texture amongst all the other options here. With these sandwiches we tried to order what we considered the restaurant's "best classic chicken sandwich", basically meaning not spicy and not a seasonal/limited time offering. The extra toppings give this one a bit of excitement, but ultimately I think a traditional chicken sandwich is still just better. That price tag of almost $13 is insane.

Grade: 72/100

AdmittedFelon posted...

Please don't support Chick-fil-A. It's 2023, so there is really no reason. Leaving off one isn't a big deal.

Yeah, hit them where it hurts. Two fewer chicken sandwiches sold will really make a dent in their bottom line.

For the record we purchased just one sandwich and cut it in half. I would hate to know how long I'd have to eat chicken sandwiches if we had purchased 42 of them.

Ive never seen a drive thru Panera Bread. Id probably go there more often if we had those around here (central coast CA).

For the record we only bought one of each sandwich (and even that felt like too many given that I got The Itis and crashed immediately after the taste test) and we've cut them in half. No combos, no drinks, no sides except when it was absolutely necessary. Speaking of which...

Panera's Signature Take

Grade: 75/100

If I were going off of flavor of the chicken alone, Panera Bread would probably place in the top three if not win outright. But as a sandwich experience as a whole it's solidly square in the middle of the above average pack. The bread is nice and soft, and the seasoning is great. It's a quality chicken sandwich that's not at all worth what they charge for it. I mean holy crap.... I paid them suckers 12 bucks and some change and they didn't even give me a drink- just some gosh forsaken kettle chips. Who do they think they are!? According to charon their website lists it as even MORE expensive, but this is neither here nor their. I'm not judging these restaurants on their frankly egregious pricing after all. Great sandwich.

Checkers: Classic Mother Cruncher: Typically I always feel like the idea of going to Checkers ends up being more enjoyable before I get the food, and unfortunately this was another case of that. They often name their items in very marketable ways and until you have to eat it, you're in a good headspace. This was just... very mediocre, in fact for me I decided it was the epitome of it. It's just there. Not crunchy like the name would imply, chicken was average and everything about the experience was too. It's one of those sandwiches you can eat if someone just hands it to you, but going out of your way to get it isn't something I'd really recommend.

Grade: 50/100

Checkers' Classic Mother Cruncher

Grade: 52/100

My thoughts on this one are as follows: 1) They should've named it the Mother Clucker, and 2) It should've been way better. Given that Checkers (or Rallys I guess) has the best fries in the business (yeah that's right I said it, come fight me Arby's stans) you would think that quality would translate over to their entrees too, but more often than not I'm left disappointed any time I go and this chicken sandwich did nothing to change my opinion. This is the first one in below average territory and the first I wouldn't go out of my way to ever try again. Maybe it would've been better if it were 100% fresh, but even that wouldn't have made it any less wet with all the lettuce, mayo and tomato bogging it down, nor would it have improved the flavor. Yuck~

checkers is right there with popeyes as best fries for sure, never had their chicken though

Checkers had some delicious strawberry ice cream a couple years ago that I was dismayed to discover is gone the last time I went to one.

dilateDChemist posted...

Ive never seen a drive thru Panera Bread. Id probably go there more often if we had those around here (central coast CA).

I've seen one. It was in the middle of nowhere PA, but I saw it lol

Edit, actually I was at another just outside of St Louis. It was called "Saint Louis Bread Co." Which is what they are called there because that where it started. If it has a different menu, I don't know. Went into it thinking it was something unique for breakfast but it turned out to be just Panara lol "Wait, I know this"

We went to see a very limited release movie and we're rather tired now. More first impressions and grades in the morning and throughout the day, and maybe final ranking by Sunday morning.... we'll see.

Freddy's: Crispy Chicken Sandwich

Not a huge fan of this one. The chicken flavor was okay enough, portion size not excellent but not terrible either. We tried to make these sandwiches their "best" versions so we added on some things like lettuce and tomato in this particular case but they did not help much. Very gloopy, and they put all the stuff under the chicken rather than on top. As I mentioned I am a fan of GMM and by extension their spinoff channel Mythical Kitchen for just food stuff, and there was an argument on there for "bottomings" over toppings, but I personally cannot get behind that. It makes stuff wet and the bottom bun gets ruined by all the weight pressing down on it. Even without the condiments though I'd probably still just be grading this one just slightly above par.

Not sure how common Freddy's even is. I hardly go there, sort of just view it as a less stellar version of Culver's and since the locations are never right along the way usually, it's not common for me to check them out. I've seen their ads pop up on Youtube sometimes though, in theory they seem to have pretty interesting things on their menu. I don't think this is one of them though.

Grade: 62

GenesisSaga posted...

Given that Checkers (or Rallys I guess) has the best fries in the business

Ita true

oh the places on that list Popeye's is far and away my favorite

I had Checkers for the first time last year when I was in Jersey. Don't think I had their chicken sandwich but the burgers are good and I have to agree with Gen that they do indeed have the best fries and easily the best traditional-type fries (I generally prefer waffle or curly but with Checkers it doesn't matter)

Five Guys comes close though

Not doing spicy sandwiches is a mistake imo

Freddy's Crispy

Grade: 66

Yeah pretty much exactly what charon said. Usually on a burger or sandwich I prefer veggie bottoming to veggie toppings, but I guess that only applies if they're eaten immediately. Otherwise it turns into a warm wet salad beneath a hot beef or chicken patty instead of having the nice cool, crunchy contrast balancing with the hot tender meat. In trying to give Freddy's a fighting chance I may have just put it at a bit of a disadvantage because it couldn't endure the ride home without losing some integrity. That said the chicken was seasoned well, so at full freshness the sandwich probably would've been in the above average category instead of squarely in the middle.

Raising Cane's: The Sandwich: Being from the South, Cane's is a relatively new experience for me. For the longest time the only location in the state of Georgia existed in Athens, which is around an hour or so drive from where live in the metro Atlanta area. Eating here was usually a special treat if we happened to be in Athens, but over the last year they've opened two more locations in the metro area itself. I've quickly found them to be the superior chain to order tenders from; everything is always super fresh and I've yet to have a bad experience.

Their sandwich is, of course, just three of their tenders laid across a bun with their signature sauce poured on top. So as far as the chicken goes, the flavor is phenomenal but I still have to dock them points for using tenders. It doesn't make for a good sandwich eating experience no matter how great it tastes. I lost a piece of the chicken when it picked it up, thankfully it only fell back onto the plate but the fact remains sandwiches are a hand food that shouldn't fall apart. Cane's sauce is great, the bread is fine enough. I was impressed with the portion size of the sandwich as well; it's a little more expensive than a lot of these but not by that much and in same cases is almost twice as big as other options. Solid stuff, but again, no reason to order it instead of a tenders combo.

Grade: 82

Bane_Of_Despair posted...

Not doing spicy sandwiches is a mistake imo

That's why this is the first annual chicken run! We thought it best to go with classics first since not every restaurant has a spicy version, but next year will be Hot Chicken Summer.

Bane_Of_Despair posted...

Not doing spicy sandwiches is a mistake imo

Hey, hey this is the FIRST annual CharGen Chicken Run for a reason! We've been brainstorming all sorts of ideas. Spicy Sammy will definitely be 2024's category, but for our first time out we wanted to keep it simple and do traditional sandwiches.

Some other ideas for Chicken Runs include:

Tenders/Spicy tenders
Nuggets
Fried chicken (though that would exclude a lot of places so I'm not sure about this one)
Wings/drumettes

And pictures of the actual product!

Aw yeah Raising Canes!

Pokalicious posted...

And pictures of the actual product!

This would have been a good idea, hate I didn't think of it for some reason. Next time for sure.

Raising Cane's

Grade: 79

This was the second one to make me go "well dayum" as I was tasting it. I'm adamantly against using tenders in place of a nice singular hunk of chicken for a sandwich, but you can't deny the flavor is immaculate. That said, as a sandwich experience as a whole it is a tad awkward to eat, and you are much better off ordering the tendies. Spoilers for a future run I guess: any other restaurant is going to have to do some heavy lifting to beat Cane's.

McDonald's: Deluxe McCrispy: It's interesting to me McDonald's has dominated fast food landscape for as long and hard as they have. It's true that sometimes you can get a craving for something of theirs and simply have to go, because a lot of their items just have a signature flavor that's hard to replicate elsewhere. But honestly, if I had to eat at McDonalds on a regular basis it would be a pretty terrible experience. It's some of the most ho hum food out there once you get beyond the nostalgia factor, outside of maybe the McNuggets.

They officially adopted this "McCrispy" name fairly recently for what they brought out to combat Popeye's in the war, initially it was simply "Crispy Chicken Sandwich". Mostly just a marketing ploy to help sell this sandwich, it's that same base recipe they first introduced a couple of years ago. I feel like this is only the second time I've ordered this; the first of course being the product launch. I didn't like it good enough back then to order it again, and not much has changed. It's McDonald's; like all their sandwiches it's quite small and leaves you feeling bad for thinking you needed two of them when in reality their sandwich is probably around 2/3rds the size of competition. Not a lot of flavor here either, just very bland and unappealing in seasoning. It wasn't too dry and I wouldn't call it nasty either, but pretty dull and lifeless for sure. It's a slightly larger McChicken, and to be honest I'd have rather just had that since the mayonnaise is more flavorful than the meat.

Grade: 47

McDonald's McCrispy

Grade: 49

Bruh it's just a fancy version of their McChicken, which may as well be called the McMayonnaise because they load it up with the exact same mayo and shredded lettuce that's on their cheaper chicken sandwich. The chicken is definitely better but this is the antithesis to putting lipstick on a pig: it's essentially dressing a supermodel in a potato sack.

dilateDChemist posted...

Ive never seen a drive thru Panera Bread. Id probably go there more often if we had those around here (central coast CA).

I have a drive thru Subway near me. This is something I had a dream about once years ago and had no idea how it would work in real life, it was so confusing. Then Jim Gaffigan made a joke about it and he described it very close to how it was in the dream. Now it's real and I'm scared to try it.

The McCrispy isn't awful or anything...but comparing taste to company size, it may be the most disappointing.

#TeamPopeyes

Krystal: Chik: Krystal's is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. There's always been something I love about them, but I seldom ever order their chicken options. I feel like they recently did a facelift on their chicken so this is probably my first experience with their new recipe.

I didn't have very high hopes coming into this one, considering Krystal occupies a niche corner of the market and obviously their sandwiches come in a vastly smaller size and as such this was the only time we ordered a pair of sandwiches rather than just one to split. I have to say, I was impressed. It's not going down as the greatest of all time or anything, but for a small offering it held its own. The chicken is super-oversized on their bun, so you still get that "chicken that hangs out the sides" experience people have come to expect with the highest tier chicken sandwiches. While it is still a fairly thin piece of chicken, I liked the flavor and it was one of the few that maintained its crunch even after being in the hot food bag for a couple hours. It may also be something with the ratio of pickles to chicken here, but I really liked the way the they sourness hit here. Very... nice

Grade: 69

Krystal's Chik

Grade: 69

Big things really do come in small packages sometimes! I will pretty much never go out of my way to go to a Krystal because their food portions do not satisfy unless you buy in bulk which is the entire idea I guess, and then even if I do go I'm more likely to go in for a pup or three. That said maybe next time I come across one I won't turn my nose up at them because I liked what I tasted. The crunch was great, the flavor was satisfactory, and the price was way more affordable than the high end offerings. Overall the experience was... nice.

I've only had Krystals once and hated it. Found the burgers barely edible and just rubbery and the chicken sandwich, while better than the burger, would probably get like a 30 on my ranking.