But while McDonald’s is at the pinnacle of the fast food world, they do some imitating of their own. For example, their McCafe line of beverages is a clear attempt to steal some customers from Starbucks; same goes for their recent restaurant renovations. Another example is their Southern Style chicken sandwiches, which are an obvious rip-off of Chick-Fil-A, right down to the pickle.

With McDonald’s food my opinion is generally that it’s ‘kinda good.’ Not all of their products are going to wow you, but they’re at fair prices, and they’re not turrible. Add the fact that there is seemingly a McDonald’s within every square mile in America and you have the top grossing restaurant chain in the country.

So that brings us to McDonald’s latest attempt at recreating a popular item in the fast food world: Chicken McBites.

Rolled out nationally last month, Chicken McBites are McDonald’s version of popcorn chicken, made famous by chains like KFC, Popeye’s, Sonic, and Arby’s. They come in three sizes: Snack size ($1.99), Regular ($2.99), and Shareable ($4.99). McDonald’s describes them as such:

Ready Steady Pop!  Bite through the satisfying crunch of poppable pieces of chicken made with premium breast meat.  They’re lightly breaded with a home-style flavor.  With the handy holder for your favorite sauce, one dip and you’ll experience the perfect tasting snack and a delicious new way to love chicken.

My initial reaction: they’re probably kinda good. I like chicken and I like dipping things, so I don’t see how it could go wrong.

I first heard of McBites quite a while ago and was kind of disappointed that they hadn’t yet been released in my area, so I was surprised when one day I rolled through to get my usual 2 McChickens and saw a promotional poster for McBites. I promptly ordered the regular size with ranch dip. At $2.99, it’s a pretty good value. I would estimate you’re getting  about 30 bites of chicken. The box also comes with a handy sauce holder.

But the real question is, how do they taste?!

My initial reaction was confirmed: they are indeed kinda good. They are nice and crunchy, although the breading does not have much flavor; just a bit of black pepper and maybe some salt. There really isn’t much chicken flavor either, which you can attribute to the lack of chicken.

As for the texture of the chicken, it doesn’t have the same weird sponginess of McNuggets, but it is also nowhere near as “real” as Chicken Selects.

The claims of ‘light breading’ are unfounded; I would say almost every McBite has more breading than chicken. They’re also quite dry and would be hard to eat without sauce. When I got to the bottom of the box there were a handful of crunchy bread pieces that were completely void of chicken. They were extremely dry, but once I covered them in ranch I didn’t care one bit.

When eating McBites, the sauce is very important because it’s really the only source of flavor. If you don’t like sauce you will not like McBites. I have eaten McBites about 4 times now, and tried them with different sauces every time.

Once I was feeling extra gluttonous and ordered the Shareable size. Do you ever order so much food that you feel like you have to pretend you’re not the only person in the car or else the employee will judge you? “Hey, person in the back seat, do you want anything? No, you just want to share? OK.” You haven’t done that? Me either.

Anyway, Ranch was my favorite sauce, because I love ranch. Chipotle BBQ comes in second, because it has a very good smoky flavor. Next comes Sweet n’ Sour, because salty and sweet is a great combination, although it should just be called Sweet, because there is no sour. Then Tangy BBQ; it’s definitely tangy but not great overall flavor. Honey Mustard comes in last, but I hate honey mustard so my opinion is invalid. But McBites are really just a new way for me to get Ranch into my mouth.

Overall, I give McDonald’s a C+ on McBites. They kind of half-assed this one, but luckily for them they can afford to do it because people like me will say they’re “kinda good,” and buy them because they’re cheap and McDonald’s is close-by.

For me, the main draw to McBites is the price. For $1.99, you get a nice snack; for $2.99 a meal (along with fries of course); and for $4.99, more McBites than you can eat by yourself. The other thing they’ve got going for them is this website, which is awesome. Dude reeeeeally loves McBites.

But if I’m craving popcorn chicken I still prefer KFC’s rendition, because they have chicken, and flavor (eleven herbs and spices, to be exact). If I’m at McDonald’s and craving chicken, I’ll still go with the McChicken or McNuggets.

Check back next Friday for my review of Taco Bell’s new breakfast menu!

Now, before this year, I had never heard of Firecracker Chicken. Asian food is not part of my regular diet, so I don’t frequent Panda Express. When Eick mentioned they had a coupon on their website to try Firecracker Chicken for free on the first day of Chinese New Year I was skeptical for that reason. That and I don’t generally eat many hot foods. Just the name of it made me cringe. But I figured there was no better way to celebrate the year of the dragon than with a mouthful of fire, so I went to my local Panda to get some free food.

The coupon was for a single serving, which is usually about $2. It seemed like a pretty small box, but it was a decent amount of chicken, especially for free. Firecracker Chicken is described as “tender marinated chicken breast, crisp red and yellow bell peppers and succulent onions … in a zesty firecracker sauce.” It also had a few black beans, and a dried chili pepper.

The verdict: this stuff is good. The chicken is nice and juicy, and is complemented well by the firecracker sauce. Chili powder definitely comes through in the sauce, which has a good amount of heat. The bell peppers and onions made it look nice and colorful but didn’t add much in the way of flavor. I was too much of a wimp to go near the dried pepper. This dish is really all about the chicken. As for the mouthful of fire, it wasn’t as hot as I expected. It’s hot, but it didn’t burn my mouth or lead me to drink an entire glass of water in one gulp. It was more of a tingling tongue than anything.

I recommend you mosey on down to Panda Express today, because as soon as the Chinese New Year celebration is over, so is Firecracker Chicken. That means February 6, by the way. Another option is to make it yourself. It’s a pretty simple recipe, which can be found here.

Gung hay fat choy!

Note from the Editor (Eick): We’re excited to share with you the first post from our newest writer…Andy! 

This week the colonel delivered a TKO on a China based fried chicken chain.

KFC took the breading gloves off and unleashed its own brand of elevens herb and spices of justice on the Beijing based Obama Fried Chicken.

OFC has been using a cartoon caricature of  President Barack Obama sporting suspenders and a bow-tie, which blatantly riffs on the iconic Colonel Sanders image that has become a staple of KFC branding, and at this point, Americana.  Some say it has taken it one step further, noting that it perpetrates a dated racial stereotype.

They’re also using the tag line “We’re so cool aren’t we?”  Which some say can be perceived as a sarcastic political statement towards the U.S. considering the President is front and center on their signage.

Of course I could be reading far too much into the selling of hot wings and things.

A spokesman for KFC who are said to be very displeased with this restaurant chain issued this statement:

We’re considering legal action as it is a knock-off and has nothing to do with us and it infringes on our brand trademark…We find it distasteful.’

Based in Beijing, OFC is a three store chain which serves up Chicken, fries and burgers.  It was incorporated by a trio of college students as a venture to help support their families. When contacted regarding the copyright infringement one of the co-owners, who came up with the logo cried oblivious to anything being wrong with the much maligned branding.

When word came that they could be besieged by the best fried chicken copyright lawyers on Earth, the owners quickly began changing the signage to UFO instead of OFC. Perhaps the chances of being threatened with legal action from E.T. seems unlikely?

There was hope that this quick fix may be perceived as an extended olive branch. However, it seems they have missed the main contention that KFC has. That being  the copyright infringing picture of the President which currently remains as part of UFO’s look.

It would be worth noting that KFC China had previously used an Obama look-alike to sell the USA brand in a commercial that aired on Television. So KFC appears to have no issue with linking the President to selling more Double Downs, just don’t mess with their iconic Southern Gentleman’s cache.

Update (from Eick): The site is subscription only, but the latest snippet from Shanghai Daily reads:

“Obama Fried Chicken,” complete with a cartoon of a smiling US President Barack Obama as its logo, has been shut by its owners

Hmmm…..

]]> http://www.sogoodblog.com/2011/10/03/deep-fried-ep-44/feed/ 0 http://www.sogoodblog.com/2011/09/26/john-foodblogger-ep-43/ http://www.sogoodblog.com/2011/09/26/john-foodblogger-ep-43/#comments Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:45:28 +0000 Sam http://www.sogoodblog.com/?p=7635 Hey, So Good readers! Since John Q. Foodblogger finally decided to name his food blog something other than “Food Blog,” the name of his comic strip has been changed to “Deep Fried Everything.” John’s penchant for fast food and all-around apathy, sadly, have not changed.

(Click to enlarge)

Chicken chunks, walnuts, grapes or cranberries, and mayonnaise seem to be the standard add-ins. Herbs like tarragon and parsley can mix it up – the same goes for spices like ginger and cumin. There are other ways to stir things up, like serving it on a sandwich or on a bed of lettuce instead of a bowl. How do you make your chicken salad, So Good readers? Vote on your favorite ingredients below, and if your key ingredient is missing, select “Other” and tell us what it is in the comments.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Now Domino’s has announced a revamp of its chicken wings and boneless chicken kickers (which was always one of my favorite items they offered). Domino’s is pledging its new chicken is even better, and in addition to offering hot and BBQ, are offering up an intriguing sounding new flavor: Sweet Mango Habanero. Hey, I’m down to try that, sounds yummy.