The Wide World of Dirt

Full disclaimer: I grew up in rural West Virginia, and I didn’t have Popeyes until I was a full-grown adult. I suffered through relentless ads for years before getting to eat there.

With that in mind, I ate their spicy chicken sandwich on Sunday. Here are my thoughts.

My belly began growling like a caged animal around 3pm MST, and my lady and I left the house to go try a new fried chicken spot not far away (Masked up, of course.)

We arrived at the establishment, and we thought our eyes were deceiving us. The low prices promised by a close personal friend were replaced with inflated numbers.

As a wallet-conscious citizen, I wouldn’t stand for this.

We went to Popeyes.

We got the Dine For 2 meal with chicken tenders, but I’ll save that for another post. The real heavy-hitter of the meal was their spicy chicken sandwich.

Yes, I have eaten it before, and yes, I have tweeted about it a lot.

However, I feel like it needs the analysis that a sandwich of its high caliber deserves.

Once again, the bun is fine. If I’m talking about the bun, there’s something wrong with the rest. Moving on to the pickles, they are a great compliment to the sandwich. A little bit of green in there to give you a nice half-serving of vegetables you need for the day.

The bird is what you all came for, so let’s get to it: the bird is immaculate.

This is the crispiest bird you are gonna find on the fast-food market. Don’t take this as the bird is dry because it’s far from that. Not rubbery or dry. Cooked close to perfection.

The breading is also consistent throughout, which is a problem I found with the Chick-fil-A sandwich. The crunch also won’t rip up the roof of your mouth, so that’s a big plus.

Popeyes seasons the bird rather well on their spicy sandwich, and they top the bird with spicy mayo. Though I’m white and mayo runs through my home state like the New River, I’ve hated it, but the spicy mayo on this sandwich gives it an extra flavorful kick.

A smaller thing that I appreciate here is that the sandwich hardly produces a mess. I don’t like having to use 78 napkins to wipe my hands off after eating. Popeyes understands the consumer’s (my) demands here and makes a neatly-packed sandwich.

Popeyes spicy sandwich is also the biggest sandwich at the market, easily gapping its contemporaries in size. Simply put, you just get more.

Speaking of more, Popeyes charges the least for their sandwich on the market. At a price point of $3.99, this sandwich competes with gas station food. Why go to Sheetz/Wawa/etc when you can go to Popeyes for just a little bit more?

Overall, this is the best sandwich you can get on the market on taste and price, and I’m not sure that it’s really all that close. Popeyes is the king, for now.