Clash of the Titans: Popeyes v. Chik-fil-A

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  No matter how much I think I’ve grown as a person or as a blogger, I inevitably find myself back here.  Pitting one fried chicken sandwich against another in glorious combat.  Sound familiar?  It should.  But whereas last time I evaluated two gourmet fried chicken sandwiches, today we’re kicking it a little more traditional.

If you know anything about me, you know that I’m a Popeyes man through and through.  Skeptical?  I had Popeyes cater my Bar Mitzvah at age 13.  Since then, I have defended them from slander:

While the Popeyes biscuits are good, they just need a smear of butter and you might want a beverage nearby.  Just because they occasionally suck all of the moisture out of your mouth doesn’t mean they’re bad.

Anyway, I’m sure you all remember when the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich mania happened last year.  Popeyes has always been a straight-up fried chicken spot, and their fans (me) know that such a simple product keeps the actual quality of the chicken high, as they can’t conceal shoddy chicken with sauces.

So when they introduced their sandwich in August of last year, people (me) lost their sh*t.  For some people, the sandwich was literally to die for, as someone was actually stabbed to death for it in Maryland.  Additionally, Chik-fil-A, the original fried chicken sandwich chain, took offense to this infringement on their territory. CNBC wrote of the feud:

“Chick-fil-A, the biggest chicken chain in the U.S. by sales, alluded to the new [Popeyes] sandwich Monday in a tweet that said “Bun + Chicken + Pickles = all the [heart] for the original” about its own chicken sandwich.”

Fast-forward to today… For the last few weeks, I have been bugging my parents to order Popeyes, as during quarantine they are offering free delivery!  Though I sampled it previously during Thanksgiving week (shout-out to Matt and Leo), I decided to get it again and pressured Doug and Maya into doing the same.

One thing we need to account for is something I call “delivery handicap”.  That’s essentially the degree to which the quality of the food goes down during the delivery process.  It took about 35 minutes for the delivery, during which the sandwich was essentially steaming itself in its foil-lined bag.  As a result, it looks like this:

Simplicity is the key to this sandwich – it’s just a fried chicken breast on a brioche bun with a smear of spicy Cajun sauce and a few dill pickles.

So it isn’t as good as the first time, but I’m attributing that to the aforementioned “delivery handicap”.  Regardless, it is still delicious.

The next day, Jo, Doug, and I pay a visit to Uwajimaya for some dystopian social distancing shopping.  As we are waiting outside to enter the store, I spot a Chik-fil-A across the street.  I, well aware of Chik-fil-A’s reputation as the original masters of the fried chicken sandwich, convince my parents to pay it a visit for lunch so I can compare the two sandwiches.

After ordering a spicy chicken sandwich, I decide to wait on eating it so that I can give it the same “delivery handicap” as the Popeyes sandwich.

Unlike the Popeyes sandwich, the Chick-fil-A comes with sauce.

The Chik-fil-A sandwich is shockingly similar to the Popeyes in almost every way.

Just to prove this point, here’s a side-by-side comparison of the two:

Popeyes on the left, Chik-fil-A on the right.  They’re twins, right?

They taste very similar too – both have nice, crispy chicken with a slightly soggy bun (delivery handicap, people) and a few dill pickles for some acidity.  The biggest difference?  The keyword ‘spicy’.  For an allegedly Cajun fried chicken sandwich, the heat from Popeyes is puny and disappointing.  You have no idea how much it hurts me to refer to a Popeyes product as ‘puny’.

For this reason, and this reason alone, the Chik-fil-A sandwich triumphs over its Popeyes counterpart.  Though it hurts,  I have to speak my truth.  I take solace in the fact that Popeyes chicken, in general, is good enough to eat it straight up without any frills.  Until Chik-fil-A starts serving à la carte chicken, I will stand by Popeyes until the end of time.