Is McDonalds Trying to Show Chik-Fil-A Up?

Okay, maybe it’s just me, but the new McDonald’s “Southern Chicken” sandwich and biscuit sure seem an awful lot like the Chik-Fil-A original sandwich and chicken biscuit…just not as good.

I never really though of Chik-Fil-A’s chicken as being southern. Having lived in the South for four years as a young’un and then another four years through college, McDonald’s chicken seems even less southern. To me, “southern chicken” is Bojangles style or Popeye’s, just really not McDonald’s.

Don’t take me wrong, though, I like what McDonald’s has done. The chicken is pretty good, for McDonald’s, although it can be a little bit of a disappointment, as much as it looks like Chik-Fil-A but doesn’t tast like it. Since there are no Chik-Fil-A branches anywhere near us, but there is a McDonald’s, I’m even more pleased.

I haven’t yet tried it, but I’m thrilled that the chicken biscuits have finally made it this far north, too. Having lived in the South for the time I did, I thought it was perfectly normal to have sausage biscuits, ham biscuits, bacon biscuits, and chicken biscuits, as much as someone who grew up in the Northeast would expect to have scrapple biscuits and pork roll biscuits in the lineup. Shortly after I came home from college, I discovered a Chik-Fil-A with a drive through window. It was early in the day, and I was starving, so I swung through and asked for a chicken biscuit. At that time, they weren’t an option up here, but I didn’t realize that. Old habits were holding strong, so I was a bit stunned when the girl on the other side of that intercom system paused, then asked what piece I wanted–thigh, breast, leg, etc.–with my biscuit. She obviously didn’t get it, and even when I explained, she insisted that they didn’t carry them. Silly girl–all she needed to do was throw a piece of chicken on a biscuit, both of which parts they do have. Oh well, I saved a bit of money that day.

Even better than having this new delicacy at our local fast food joint is that McDonald’s sent out coupons for free samples of these new sandwiches–one coupon for the breakfast sandwich and one coupon for the “entree” sandwich.

My only complaint is that it looks so much like Chik-Fil-A’s sandwich but tastes so different. I’m confident that if I hadn’t already enjoyed Chik-Fil-A’s sandwiches so much, I would much more enjoy what McDonald’s has created. As it is, though, I keep being disappointed when I bite into the sandwich and hit the non-Chik-Fil-A chicken seasoning and breading, tucked under the ubiquitous pickle slice (or sometimes two).

As good as it is the way they serve it, with no condiments, I’m thinking that a dollop of mayonaisse, with, maybe, just a hint of mustard (spicy brown, of course), might just do the trick. What I created would probably no longer classify as “southern chicken,” but I’ll bet it would taste pretty good!