Sherman's Food Adventures: Popeye's

Popeye's

With so many choices for food, why the heck did I go to Popeye's? Honestly, while I was there, I was wondering to myself. Well, it stems from the post I did on Krispy Kreme. Kim (I'm Only Here for the Food!) had commented about Popeye's Chicken and I thought back to the days when they had a location Coquitlam. Not anymore, the only place, other than the US you'd find Popeye's is in Ontario. I don't have a strong recollection of Popeye's Chicken since I haven't had any in a long while. Today, I decided to take a short drive to the local Popeye's to give it a go. I merely went for the 3 piece dinner with spicy fries and biscuit. For good measure, I decided to try the Crayfish Traveler. I had to wait for a short while because they generally fry everything fresh rather than the "kept in warmer" approach at KFC.

After a short wait, I presented with 3 fairly large pieces of spicy chicken. At first glance, the skin seemed a bit oil-logged which was not really all that appetizing. I gotta say, it was crunchy and quite flavourful. But what's up with the chicken itself? It was drier than the Steve Urkel's sex life. Other than the thigh, the wing and breast pieces were like gnawing on jerky. I much prefer the tender chicken from Lee's or Church's. I did like the biscuit and fries though. Biscuit was flaky and butter. Fries were spicy and crispy. If I didn't care much about the chicken, I was surprised at how good the crayfish were. Lightly battered, these little morsels were pretty darn good, especially when dipped into the spicy horseradish sauce. Think of it as popcorn shrimp; but with crayfish. Another good indicator is that you could actually see the crayfish though the crispy batter. That means it wasn't battered to the point of no return. I swear some places that serve popcorn shrimp forget to use shrimp and they might as well called it popcorn batter.

I'm not sure what the fuss is about Popeye's because I didn't really care for it. I can't stand dry fried chicken, no matter how tasty it is. And I'm not about dipping it in copious amounts of ketchup to save it. I can go get Sweet n Sour Chicken at any Panda Express or Flaming Wok, thank you very much.

The Good:
- Pieces of chicken were large
- Sides were pretty good
- Batter tastes good

The Bad:
- It was overly oily
- Chicken was dry

Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits on Urbanspoon

6 comments:

KimHo said...

I guess it is a case where things have changed for the worst - as I mentioned in the Krispy Kreme post, both the chicken and biscuits were subpar. Ah, I wished I could taste that fried chicken I tasted eons ago... :(

Unknown said...

OMG, Sherman! I can't believe you didn't like Popeye's? Then again, I understand that if the chicken was dry....no good! Besides, the Popeye's in Coquitlam was an attrocity, so I can see how you would've had reservations about it to begin with. When I went down to New Orleans a couple years ago with a group I was hit with a heavy stick of nostalgia! Ah..Popeye's I had grown up with in the States....! We tried to have it as often as we were able to. Any excuse we had we'd take. The mashed potatoes, gravy, juicy spicy chicken..and the biscuits were to die for :D Anyways, too bad it wasn't as good as my experience down south...! i'd be interested in trying the crayfish poppers! sounds like something they should've had in New Orelans!

Sherman Chan said...

Yah Jennifer, I was a bit disappointed with the chicken. I was expecting much more. Maybe I'll give it another go at another location next time. Those crayfish poppers were da bomb. I still thing of them now!

Kim, agreed. We agree too much... We must stop it.

trisha said...

ahh... crayfish, how i adore you. this post is tempting me to drive across the border to get some. i only live 5 minutes from it... but i don't know if those grumpy border guards are worth it. hmm...

Sherman Chan said...

Grumpy border guards? Don't let them come between you and your food!

holly said...

Too bad the chicken was dry.

The chicken I had at the Burlington location was juicy. The highlight for me was the biscuits, but the crayfish sure sounds yummy. I'm not sure if they offered it at this location.

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