Bojangles' Vs. Popeye's Fried Chicken & Biscuits

It's no secret that Fougoo & I are fans of Popeye's Fried Chicken. I can't call it "Louisiana Kitchen". However, I've always heard from friends who have lived in the South that Bojangles' Famous Chicken & Biscuits makes better fried chicken and biscuits than Popeye's.
I discovered that a short drive from my house to New Carrolton, MD would take me to both a branch of Popeye's and Bojangles' about a half mile apart from each other. I wanted to see who's menu items would reign supreme.
I did drive-thru first to Popeye's then to Bojangles', ordering from both places the two-piece meal with biscuit.
I first compared the two biscuits. On visual inspection, the Popeye's biscuit has a slightly more yellowish color and is just a little less thick than the one from Bojangles'. I've always felt that Popeye's biscuit is a bit too greasy, but I usually cut it with some honey or jam. Bojangles' biscuit is much less greasy, and it is also fluffier. It was clearly better, as I finished the Bojangles' biscuit off. I would most certainly return to try one of their biscuit sandwiches.
Now on to the chicken. The Bojangles' chicken (above) is a little less battered than Popeye's. When you bite into the skin, there is slightly more obvious texture of fried skin. The Popeye's chicken seems to have a little more saltiness and flavor than Bojangles'. My preference between the chickens falls to Popeye's in this case.
I tried a few additional sides. The seasoned fries clearly were dominated by Popeye's. The mashed potato & gravy sides were a draw as Popeye's uses a spicy meat gravy and Bojangles' uses a creamy gravy. Bojangles' offers pinto beans that hold nothing to Popeye's red beans & rice.
Winner: close one, but I would give it to my Popeye's. Loser: me.

Breakfast at KFC in Shanghai

KFC is really popular in China, even more so than McDonald's. It's probably because they've adapted their menu to include Chinese favorites as well as the Colonel's finest.
We got some breakfast from a nearby branch on our first day in Shanghai.
They had mini You Tiao, a deep fried stick of dough, and I enjoyed my bowl of Congee that had pork and some thousand year egg in it.

While these were fast food versions of traditional Chinese breakfast items, KFC also had a breakfast ham sandwich made with Shao Bing (sesame seed covered flat bread). This was actually pretty good as well.

The KFC Double Down

Tried the KFC Double Down sandwich, Original recipe: 540 cal, 32 gm fat, 1380 mg sodium.
Verdict- much too salty, chicken was dry.
Thank you.

McDonald's in Tokyo

Kelly and I were in Tokyo last week, and I've got a few upcoming posts from the trip, but I figured I'd start with some fun.
With Japan recently winning the World Baseball Classic, the Japan McDonald's was promoting the special McHotdog. Oddly enough, it was meant for breakfast!?!
I ordered it as a meal one morning with a coffee and hash brown. The McHotdog was actually a decent hot dog on a whole wheat bun with ketchup, mustard and relish.

I did not get the try to advertised McPork, which I'm assuming was a take on the Japanese Katsu style deep fried pork sandwich.
Kelly's favorite item was something we got at Narita airport as we were leaving Japan, the Green Tea Oreo McFlurry. It was pretty great- if they had this in the US, I would be in trouble- the green tea flavor complemented the Oreo cookie so well.

First Kitchen Flavor Potato

To continue in the fast food Golden Week vein, we tried the special "Flavor Potato" at First Kitchen, "A City Convenience Restaurant." They dump the fries in a paper bag and sprinkle seasonings, which you can shake the bag to coat all over your fries. The Golden Week special flavor was ume-nori (sourplum with seaweed) -- salty-sour goodness - yum!

Welcome Back Mega Mac!

So we felt a bit like tourists going to McDonald's while we were in Japan, but the reason for going was more cultural exploring. It being the Japanese holiday Golden Week, all businesses and restaurants were running specials, and Mickey D's was the return of old friend Mega Mac -- a 4 x 4 Big Mac: 4 patties and 4 slices of cheese. As my brother notes, it fixes the poor beef/cheese to bread ratio of the traditional Mac (2:3) tipping the scale to 4:3.


Interesting how in the States McDonald's is trying to shed its fat-promoting image, leaving the pushing of the fat envelope to Burger King, but is happy enough to clog the arteries of Asians.

Also special to McD's Japan is the Ebi Filet-O. Like a Filet-O-Fish, but with a shrimp patty. Pretty tasty, actually, and I appreciated that it had less tartar sauce.

The White Castle Crave Case

So I have a good friend in St. Louis who, when I go out there to hang out, proceeds to join me in a grease and fat gluttony. We usually go to a rib place called Supersmokers, grab some shakes at Steak & Shake, and on occasion we scarf down a White Castle Crave Case while watching TV or playing video games.
The case contains 30 White Castles (that's 15 each). I do prefer the cheese. He eats the originals. It is sometimes accompanied by 1-2 orders of cheese fries. In my youth, this form of gluttony would be easy, but nowadays, the "wall" hits me at about 11 of them.
Disgusting? Yes, but how can one resist the "holed" meat with onions and pickles on a steamed bun. Hurts so good.
Fortunately for my cholesterol, these pictures were taken in 2005, but perhaps a pilgrimage to the midwest is necessary in 2007.

In-N-Out Burger

A visit to the west coast would not be complete with a meal at the best darn fast food place in the world: In-N-Out Burger!
I decided to get a 3 by 3 Animal style with fries and a vanilla shake. Man, it hit the spot.
I love that there are all these secret off the menu variants you can order if you know the code - animal style, protein style, 4 by 4, etc.
Plus it always reminds me of The Big Lebowski.