Classic Competition

When it comes to meals, I’d say chicken is the American go-to. I mean, there have even been memes created from this meal: ‘When you ask mom what’s for dinner and she says chicken… again’.

A classic.

We grow up with cravings for chicken nuggets that never really go away. And there’s an extensive list of fast food and sit-down restaurants based solely around chicken. It can come in any form — sandwiches, nuggets, biscuits, salads. I could go on forever.

Now I’m someone who could live off chicken nuggets, and I really kind of do. And that’s why I’m here to break it down. Is the go-to chicken joint the classic Chick-Fil-A? The trendy Popeyes? Or the dreamy Cane’s?

Now, Chick-Fil-A is a little too easy-access — in the best way possible. If someone offered me a list of all the money I’ve spent at Chick, I think I’d have to decline, just to avoid the guilt.

As I know I’m not the only East student who’s dropped a pretty penny at the Ward Parkway Chick-Fil-A, there isn’t a whole lot I can say about it. It’s amazing. It’s heavenly. It’s the food I crave the second I’m done eating it. That’s it. That’s the review.

When Popeyes won the hype at the beginning of this school year, I was excited to give it a try. And my experience was similar to everyone else fighting to get their hands on a sandwich at the time.

The half-hour wait to get a sandwich seemed excessive, considering Chick-Fil-A comes in a matter of minutes. And the sandwich is nothing short of, well, pretty average.

It’s good. Don’t get me wrong. But the social media rage hyped it up to be a sandwich that was going to change my life. And it just didn’t.

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Then there’s Cane’s. Which is hard to compare to the last two, because chicken isn’t the only thing I go there excited for. Cane’s Texas Toast has been in my dreams more than once.

And the sauce that Cane’s has to offer — it truly doesn’t get a lot better than that. The 20-minute drive from East I take to get to Cane’s is one that I’m willing to take, as long as I get my hands on chicken and toast.    

All-in-all, I’m a Chick-Fil-A girl at heart. Perhaps under different circumstances I’d feel differently — maybe if Cane’s was as close as Chick, or if the Popeyes line was as short as every other drive-thru.  

But at the end of the day, who am I to tell you which heavenly fast food hot spot has the best chicken? Once we’re all easily able to leave our houses, go test the Three Musketeers of chicken for yourself.