The answer to that is, of course, "I have no fucking idea..."
A couple weeks ago, I would have said, 'no', but then last week's LFFL generated some talk about places like, "Jack 'n the Box," and something called, "Wienerschnitzel's." Being from the East Coast, I've never seen either of those places in my life. You would think I would have been bored by such talk, but actually, Moe Greene and I ended up having at least two phone conversations about what it might be like to eat at a "Jack 'n the Box" or "Wienershnitzel's". We were fascinated with the idea and loved hearing about something new and foreign to us.
As far as LFFL is concerned, I've decided that I'll be sticking mainly with national fast food chains, but I'm also not going to shy away from reviewing something regional every now and then. And with that in mind, I give you this:
Bojangles: 2 piece fried chicken meal with fries and a biscuit
Bojangles' official name is actually, "Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits," so I figured this had to be the best meal to judge them on.
Location: Talk about obscure and regional... I actually wasn't even aware Bojangles existed up until about 3 months ago! Apparently, they're big in the South and particularly the Carolina's. In the DC area, however, they've only got five locations... and to make matters worse, all those locations are in some of the seedier sections of the Maryland "suburbs".
One is located just across the street from Prince George's Community College where my nephew William is a student. He was curious about it so he stopped in one day after school in the Fall semester; he's been eating there at least 3 times a week ever since. In fact, over winter break he missed it so much that he made me hop in the car with him and head over to his school just to feed his craving.
For this review however, we decided to swing by the, "New Carrolton," location because it was closer to my apartment... The area basically consists of a Metro Stop, a couple of rundown shopping centers, and some low-rent apartment communities. Let's just say, I doubt it would be very hard to find someone to sell you good weed in New Carrolton, and leave it at that.
Service: We (my nephew and I) have actually been to this location a couple of times, and learned the hard way that their drive-thru is a mistake. So yesterday, we went inside to place our ordered. We both made the exact same order, to the exact same woman. She was actually the manager, but after ringing us up she only gave me a drink cup; William got nothing. She told him that "a drink wasn't a part of his meal," so he had to buy it separate. Aside from that bizarre moment, the service was quick and we were back on our way home in about 3 minutes.
Meal Review: I'll start with the fries... Even though Bojangles is so quick to promote their biscuits and chicken, they really should consider giving equal billing to their fries. They're somewhere between being potato wedges and fries actually, and are full of flavor. Adding to the regional flavor of Bojangles, I think they throw in a pinch of either Old Bay Seasoning, or something similar... For those of you not from the DC/Maryland area, Old Bay is a spice from Baltimore that's made specifically for cooking crabs, but we use to put on any random food we want to add flavor to. We'll put it on every type of seafood, subs, fried chicken, potato salad, chips, and of course... fries!
My only complaint about the Bojangles fries is that they don't give you enough in a medium order... If they would go the Checkers or Arby's route of overloading you with fries, I'd probably eat there every other day.
The biscuit, for all the promoting they do, is actually a little bit of a disappointment. It is a moist, butter-milk biscuit with decent flavor and all, but it's not necessarily better than say, a Popeye's biscuit for example... I'd rate it as "above-average" which would be perfectly fine had they not gotten my hopes up by touting it as "famous".
The chicken however, does not disappoint in any way, shape, or form... The skin has a good texture; crisp but not overly crunchy. The meat is moist, fresh, and packs plenty of flavor. It destroys KFC, though that isn't saying much. I'd say I prefer it to Popeye's as well, but that's more of a personal preference than a comparison of quality.
The one and only knock I could come up with against the Bojangles chicken is that it's only halfway spicy... On the first few bites, I tasted a hint of hot spice, and that confused my taste buds a little. It made me start expecting things to heat up a little on subsequent bites, but it never did. I found myself wondering the whole time, "is this supposed to be spicy or not?"
My opinion on things like that is, if you're going to throw in some spice, really do it... make me have to reach across the table and take a swig of my drink after every other bite! And if you're not going to go the spicy route, well then, don't do it at all.
Cost: After taxes, my total came out to a little over 5 bucks... Considering the amount of food you get, that's actually a really good deal. It compares quite favorably to the other chicken options out there.
Obesity Break-Down: Anytime you thrown fried-chicken into the mix, you know its going to get ugly... just the two pieces of chicken alone added up to 40 grams of fat! In total, the meal topped out at 1161 calories and 71 grams of fat. I've certainly taken in plenty more than that in one fast-food meal, but that why I'm fat!
Summary: Obviously, anytime you're reviewing a meal, the bottom-line question should be: "Would you recommend it?"
And my answer to that is: "Absolutely!"
But when reviewing a rather obscure regional chain, I think the sub-question has to be: "Should I go way out of my way to give it a try?"
The answer to that is not quite as easy.
I probably wouldn't drive more than 20-30 minutes to eat there, but if you should for whatever reason (like buying weed perhaps) find yourself in the vicinity of one, you should definitely make time... and if you're hungry and actually drive past one, well then, you should cut across 3 lanes of traffic to pull into their parking lot without thinking twice. Especially if you're a chicken lover.
Overall, I'm giving it a solid 8 out of 10 rating. I really enjoyed it, and I'm sure I'll be back sometime soon.
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12 comments:
I'm not a huge fan of the Popeyes biscuit. I'll be interested in seeing how our tastes vary with Bojangles.
Of course, both biscuits have to be better than the biscuit I'll be reviewing next week as part of my first trip into the Fast (food) Lane.
never ever heard of Bojangles. I guess i wont be trying it. Every time you review a place that doesn't exist in So Cal, I'll head over to jack's or to weinerschnitzel... :)
I have been to baltimore, and we do travel, but the problem with that is, we don't usually eat fast food when we travel. We like to try nice restaurants. Besides, whenever I do eat fast food, i have to kind of hide it from the hubby. If he asks, I wont lie, but if he doesn't, I wont tell.
I saw these places all the time in South Carolina. I was always tempted but never stopped in. I feel like I'll be regretting that for a while.
Oh and Popeyes biscuits can not be beat when you get them fresh, but they go south verrrry quickly sitting under that heat lamp.
Our version of Bojanles is Hertz. I've never had their food though.
Too bad What-a-Burger is a Texas thing. I'd like to know what you have to say about their burgers.
MG- see eric comments on biscuits... i think that might be your issue with popeyes biscuits. either that or you just expect too much from a fast food biscuit.
teresa- your husband gets mad if you eat fast food? this is a man we're talking about, right?
when ever i travel, moe greene is usually involved, and we make a point of trying to do cheap lunches and nice dinners.
erich- what the fuck were you doing in south carolina? please tell me it was another road-trip hook up!
and you're dead on about the timing on those biscuits... althogh i think its true just in general, not just with popeyes.
LGB- isn't hertz a rental car place? and its been a few years, but I do occasionaly go to houston and have seen what-a-burger's... they didn't look ecspecially appealing from the outside, but I've heard enough people speak about them in glowing terms to want to give it a try if I get another chance... the last time I was in Houston, my new fast food adventure was Sonic, and I don't regret that decision for a second.
I was in Myrtle Beach, SC helping my mom plan my aunt's funeral and getting all those sort of affairs in order. I talked to her once in my life so it wasn't a big deal at all. More like a beach vacation with a funeral mixed in. So yeah, no hooking up this time, but it wasn't because of lack of effort. Try picking up women at a relative's funeral. Not an easy task.
Timing is everything when it comes to fast food. You gotta hit the places at either noon, 3, or like 5:15-5:30. Any other time and you are rollin the dice.
I'll be visiting Hliton Head Island in July to meet my girlfriends parents and have now added BFCnB to my list of "places I must visit in SC". Thanks for the review.
If I could I would. It is like Sonic out here. We see the commercials, but the closest is to damn far. Oh man, I miss checkers. Those were some good high school memories. Sorry. I got lost on the point. Good review and those fries look awesome.
erich- ive never tried to get laid at a funeral, but i would...
hector- that actually makes my day... let me know how it goes, and seriously, double up on the fries
santiago- a checkers reveiw is coming soon. i havent set a date or planned it, but i that day is coming.
Eric - If Wedding Crashers taught me one thing, it's that hooking up at a funeral is a cake walk.
Never had Bojangles, but the Popeye's in Laurel makes some bad ass biscuits and onion rings (made to order every time). Unfortunately the drive-through is ridiculously narrow and I'm a terrible driver so I always hop up the curb and scratch my car on the metal bars.
There may be two reviews for Checkers. If I remember correctly, we like different parts of that menu. I smell a co-op effort...
Bojangles reminds me of Harold's Chicken Shack. They have many around the city and each one has a number (i.e. #84) on the outside. They have them in the weed-purchasing places and across from the Hilton in downtown. Chicken and hot sauce are dreamy, sides mediocre.
biscuits at popeyes are good but i recently discovered that you get a dozen for a couple of bucks at Church's--do you have that one in your parts? those were GOOD hot, fresh, buttery, moist and fluffy biscuits. *drooling*
i ate at a jack in the box in dallas and it was a pretty dry and uneventful meal. whataburger was delish tho.
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