It's hard to believe Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen went so long without its own chicken sandwich. But it's finally arrived at Popeye's and it's reportedly delicious. It might even be better than what's long been considered the holy grail of chicken sandwiches: Chick-fil-A. If the lines are indication, then there's definitely a taste test in my future.
We actually discovered Popeye's new sandwich today, while driving back from the Mobile Chamber Business Expo. During that short drive to Midtown Mobile, we passed two Popeye's locations. The first had traffic stopped on Government Street, because the drive-thru line was longer than I'd ever seen it. When we passed the second location and saw the same massive amount of traffic, we knew something was up. A Google search told me everything I needed to know.
The sandwich has actually been available for a few weeks, and it sells out regularly. Popeye's has even set purchase limits in some cases, no more than two per person. The Ringer notes that Popeye's new sandwich has "almost unanimous mainstream approval:"
It takes the objective, populist perfection of Popeyes’ signature flavor profile and applies it to a tried-and-true sandwich form popularized by Chick-fil-A for more than six decades: fried chicken, pickles (always under the chicken, never on top), buttered bun, and not much else.
A Popeye's chicken sandwich was bound to be a success, but social media may have pushed its popularity into the stratosphere. Social media, especially Twitter, has fully embraced the #ChickenWars. Chick-fil-A, which claims to have invented the chicken sandwich, tweeted a response that seemed to mirror the tweet from Popeye's, at least a bit. And from there, it was on!
Even Wendy's couldn't resist getting into the act, tweeting: "Y’all out here fighting about which of these fools has the second best chicken sandwich."
And then, the responses started coming in...
While the #ChickenWars have cooled, the lines at Popeye's certainly have not. If you want to try their new chicken sandwich, we suggest you get to Popeye's early in the day.