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This site has remarked a couple of times on the frenetic George/Gordon Raising Cain's ads. I think I heard them say that their promotional visit to the opening of the latest Raising Cain's resulted in the biggest one-day sales at an RC store, something like that.
In the comments to my post on Raising Cain's and chicken generally, Confessors weighed in on their local favorites. My dark-horse favorite was regional chain Golden Chick.
But the biggest Ticket-fried-chicken-related shot was the multi-segment celebration by Danny and Dave on the Orphanage last Saturday on the greatness of regional chain Chicken Express. I wasn't the only one who wondered whether this was going to cause a problem with the Raising Cain's folks, who must have poured a fortune into the George/Gordon spots and promotional appearances. Danny acknowledged he'd received cautionary communications from P1's but brushed them off, advising that RC was a "Muser" sponsor.
I have now recently visited both a Golden Chick and a Chicken Express in the Cool Metro.
Chicken Express wins on:
-- Overall store appearance, inside and out.
-- Menu variety and layout.
-- Cleanliness.
-- Staff friendliness and efficiency.
-- Store accessibility (more and better DFW-area locations)
Golden Chick wins on:
-- Chicken.
Sorry, Danny and Dave. The Chicken Express chicken was good, but the chicken pieces were not of the best quality (size and tenderness). That would have been okay if the coating had distinguished itself, but it was thin and somewhat limp. It tasted all right, but it did not have the heartiness and crispiness of Golden Chick, and the thighs (my preferred cut) were on the undernourished side.
(I acknowledge that crispiness is not the be-all/end-all of great fried chicken. KFC Original Recipe yields a positively soggy coating but its deliciousness makes up for it.)
I have learned that CE is opening a store on a thoroughfare I get to with some regularity, so I'm sure I'll be visiting again. If the foregoing is unfair (again, no respectable critic would base a comparo on a single visit), I'll check back.
All topics open, as usual.
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Didn't "cookie talk" finally take its long-awaited and deserved exit? Hopefully this post will be the "chicken talk" swan song, as well.
ReplyDeleteAs I said in the original post, I've only tried Chicken Express once and it was tough, greasy and flavorless. I've had Golden Chick a handful of times and it's consistently greasy as hell but tasty, especially with the Zing powder liberally applied. I still haven't tried RC, and as far as the fast food version of fried chicken goes, I still prefer Popeyes.
ReplyDeleteDo love Popeye's, and don't forget the red beans/rice. Yep, Golden Chick is greasy, but very satisfyingly so. I wasn't aware of the Zing powder, will have to give that a whirl.
ReplyDeleteWill look forward to birq's ruminations on Raising Cain's after his first visit. If you think Chicken Express is flavorless . . . .
I'm disappointed that there's no Los Pollos Hermanos on this list.
ReplyDeleteWilliams Chicken. Full stop. You might have to go into some questionable neighborhoods, but it's some damn fine bird.
ReplyDelete