There Is No Taboo

by on 06. Dec, 2011 in News

There’s always a caveat, an asterisk, at the end of my love for Chick-fil-A. It comes up every once in a while. I subtly bring up the dark side of the brand in my posts, though I never really explain what some of the “problems … downsides … flaws” are. It’s not necessarily taboo. It’s just difficult to talk about without entering territory I am not comfortable treading.

Yes. Chick-fil-A was founded on Christian values. And it’s been reported recently that the Cathy family (the founder and CEO of Chick-fil-A disapprove of gay marriage, and have gone so far as to donate money to anti-gay marriage groups. I am completely against this. Other than that, I don’t have much else to say on the matter.

And while I think it’s a terrible thing that the Cathy’s have done, especially in a public manner, I don’t enjoy being demonized in a kind of “if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem”-type dichotomy. Chick-fil-A, like life, is more complex than this. And just because I eat at the franchise doesn’t mean I support the Cathy’s vision. And just because someone works or own a Chick-fil-A franchise doesn’t make them automatic descendants or followers of the Cult of Cathy. First and foremost, these are people who found a business opportunity that was right for them, and in some cases, religion had almost nothing to do with it. I’m not fine with generalizing the entire corporation, because as I’ve explained before, not all Chick-fil-As are the same. Just as they don’t all have the same promotions, we can’t expect them to all share the same view.

I respect the right to boycott Chick-fil-A if you don’t agree with their practices. I don’t agree with their beliefs, and yet, I believe in the workers I see every time I go there. I don’t see malice or prejudice. I see friendly workers and generous managers. I see people that I respect too much to boycott a store where the managers, workers, and owners may not even share the Cathy’s beliefs. This may be naive of me. Maybe it’s too myopic of a view. But it’s difficult for me to see the bigger picture when the Chick-fil-As I frequent seem so much like home.

Maybe I didn’t do a good enough job justifying my views, but they’re my views nonetheless. Wherever you stand on this issue, I respect your views. I can only ask for reciprocity.

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Watch A Man Make “Chick-fil-A Pizza”

by on 06. Dec, 2011 in Video

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Some notes:

  • The man freely admits he doesn’t know how to cook.
  • The pizza is cheese-less, which means it’ll be awful.
  • He cuts an onion. It doesn’t make him cry, but I sure did. Painful.
  • He uses two chicken sandwiches for the pizza. Could have just bought nuggets to save himself the trouble of slicing.
  • He reminds you to turn off your oven after the pizza is done cooking, which is smart because I would have never thought to do that if he didn’t tell me to.
  • He takes bites from the side because duh, there’s no cheese and everything slides off the dough.
  • “Mainly, you don’t have to do much cooking…” Yep. And you’d have to do even less cooking if you just decided to add some tomato sauce to your two Chick-fil-A sandwiches.
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On Being A Smart, Poor, Advantageous College Student

On Being A Smart, Poor, Advantageous College Student

by on 05. Dec, 2011 in Extras, Uncategorized

This is my refrigerator door.

The La Habra Chick-fil-A has become such a recurring subject on this blog, it’s practically become a character in my ongoing narrative. While I now frequent the Brea Chick-fil-A a mere mile from where I live, the La Habra location will always have a place in my heart.

It’s where I learned to how to be a thief. It’s where nearly 50% of my refrigerator’s contents come from. The La Habra Chick-fil-A (LH CFA from now on) was a broke college student’s paradise. And we broke it. My roommates and I broke the shit out of it. We’re sorry, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t a good run.

Let me explain:

There is a center island in the LH CFA. It’s where they used to place condiments, napkins, utensils, and after-dinner mints. At times, this mattered more than the food. It was wide open for the taking, and we took and took. Some days, as shameful as it is for me to say this, we went to Chick-fil-A not because we were necessarily craving it — more because we needed to go grocery shopping for utensils and polynesian sauce to enhance the terrible meals we were cooking for ourselves.

So we had stealth missions which required everyone to order their meals for carryout, so that we could take advantage of their to-go bag. We would sit down together and keep our eyes on the employees, who had a 12 o’clock view of the center island. Whenever they had their backs turned, we’d pounce, and grab at least 6-10 sauce packets at a time. We would grab forks, knives and spoons so we wouldn’t have to wash the actual silverware we owned at the condo.

Oh, the mints.

This was my friend’s girlfriend’s favorite part of the mission — mainly because she was really good at it. The mints were kept in a plastic jar. They filled it every time it was half-empty. Somehow, she was able to empty the jar into her purse without looking at all conspicuous. …I still can’t believe she was able to do it over and over again.

Alas, good things can never last. One day, after maybe a two-month hiatus from the LH CFA. The sauces were up in the front. You had to ask them for sauces. The mints were behind the counter. Only ketchup and mustard were available in large (albeit not as large as before) quantities. The dream was over. We like to believe we were the ones responsible for their increased security.

Though it’s not like it was too big of a loss. We still have some of the original stolen sauces in our fridge, just chillin’.

Sometimes we steal with our eyes, not with our minds.

 EDIT: And with this post, I’ve made sure that Chick-fil-A will never hire me ever. And if they ever find me, I’m going down. 

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On “Being The Chick-fil-A Guy”

by on 05. Dec, 2011 in Uncategorized

I’ve been to gatherings and outings and get-togethers and parties and I get asked the same thing:

“So … Chick-fil-A, huh?” …in all of it’s various forms. It’s a way to break the ice, and I am happy to oblige them. When you take the time to establish some sort of authority on a subject, it isn’t a drag when people ask you the same thing over and over and over again. It means you’ve made it.

I know a lot about Chick-fil-A because I’ve taken the time and made the investment. I know their menu, I know their business, and I know their flaws. I made this blog because I want to share that with others. I don’t necessarily put it on pedestal, and that point comes across more when I speak about Chick-fil-A in person. It’s a good fast food restaurant, but I would give at least some pause before calling it my absolute favorite. But I’ve eaten enough Chick-fil-A to really internalize my feelings about it. And I know that in a package deal of food, speedy service, and customer interaction, it is the best fast food restaurant, bar-none.

It’s an interesting corporation, complete with seriously good food and seriously glaring issues. But unlike other fast food megacorporations, I don’t feel like I’m being fed a refined industrial waste that just made it past inspection on a conveyor belt. At best, Chick-fil-A still feels like a family atmosphere. That’s something they work hard to preserve, and it’s something I respect.

I’m the Chick-fil-A guy. You may know me. I can tell you what you should pair with your Chick-fil-A nuggets and your waffle fries depending on your mood and the time of day. I can tell you what not to eat when you’re just pulling into the drive through after an hour and a half of traffic. I can tell you that getting an Arnold Palmer with unsweetened tea might be the best thing available at Chick-fil-A. I can, and one day, I might.

I’m that guy. And it’s pretty cool.

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Great Ideas: Chicken & Waffle Breakfast Sandwich

by on 05. Dec, 2011 in Breakfast, Sandwiches

While it is not a prerequisite to being a true Angeleno, there is a certain widespread appeal to Roscoes House of Chicken and Waffles. The concept may not have come from Los Angeles, but it’s become a staple — and deservedly so.

Chick-fil-A has put itself in a unique position of being one of the few chicken-based fast food chains around, and has definitely used that to its advantage. While their menu upgrades have been very modest, they have also created the Chicken Minis, which are chicken nuggets sandwiched between mini King’s Hawaiian rolls drizzled with honey. This is an extremely original concept for a fast food restaurant, and I think they have it in them for another.

Those in Orange County have probably seen the Chicken & Waffle Sandwich before. Bruxie, a waffle shop that specializes in making unique sandwiches with Waffles as its carb-y vessel, has one that is quite good. But Bruxie is only one shop, and it’s also relatively expensive. I guarantee that breakfast sales would go through the roof with this new creation. The allure is too great. For an L.A. native, there might not be anything better than having Roscoe’s everyday for breakfast. Chick-fil-A would be replicating that experience.

But there would be some specific changes that CFA would have to make it its chicken formula. I think a less spice-heavy flour would work better in the case of a sandwich. You don’t want the chicken’s spices to overwhelm the flavor of the waffle, and the obligatory maple syrup that would be drizzled on the sandwich.

The waffle’s structural integrity would have to hold up a lot better than Roscoes. For all the wonderful spices used in their waffle batter, the waffle is utterly lifeless and limp. CFA would have to create a more substantial waffle with more volume, having a soft and pliant inner while maintaining that all of its ridges are solid and have a good bite/crunch to them. I wouldn’t expect CFA to have a waffle as nuanced as Roscoe’s flavor-wise, but it shouldn’t be a straight buttermilk batter like something you’d get out of an frozen Eggo waffle.

…Seems like I’m getting myself a waffle iron for Christmas.

The sandwich would definitely be a cult favorite. Am I right, people?

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On Sweet Tea

by on 05. Dec, 2011 in Reviews

Photo via cjanee on Flickr

I remember back in high school, my speech and debate teacher used to brew his own sweet tea in his office. He was trying to capture the magic of a certain sweet tea he had in North Carolina, which was apparently served by some guy on the street who asked if he wanted some. I guess sometimes you find hidden treasures, and sometimes they find you.

My first experience with sweet tea was at Chick-fil-A. Before that, I had only ever had the brisk lemon flavored iced teas, or similarly fruity Arizona iced teas. Never black tea alone with sugar. But once I did, I was hooked. When I order sweet tea, I always tell them to go light on the ice, because there’a certain phenomenon that occurs with light ice that doesn’t happen when ice is packed to the brim.

The tea is brewed on the hotter side of warm. And as it hits the ice, the ice slowly melts (duh), but when you drink it when it’s fresh, you get the sensation of the warm and cold together, streaming through the straw. It’s a unique experience, and it’s one of my favorite things in general. It’s the little things that get me excited.

Though, I must ask: when you go get a refill on your sweet tea, does it taste significantly worse? I don’t know if it’s just my tastebuds being overloaded with sugars the first time around, but when I get refills on sweet tea, it never tastes remotely as good, and takes on a weird, plasticky flavor. I can’t describe it well and I wish it didn’t happen.

Though I can let that slide. Chick-fil-A’s sweet tea has been good to me.

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What’s The Difference?

by on 05. Dec, 2011 in Extras

As many of you know, I’ve had 85 Chick-fil-A nuggets in one sitting. I did it during a chicken nugget eating contest hosted by the Chick-fil-A in La Habra. It was glorious, sickening, and a testament to my love for the place.

I started wondering if I could eat 85 McDonald’s Chicken (Mc)Nuggets. Technically they are a lot lighter and easier to eat, since less than half of it is actual chicken. But then again, starches are what generally get you full when you eat any meal. Would I slow down considerably quicker if I ate the more starch-based Chicken McNuggets?

My hypothesis was that the pure protein that the CFA nuggets provided would be more difficult to consume in larger quantities. But I was going off my gut and an admitted bias. My friend said that either way, eating 85 nuggets would be an idiotic decision from a nutritional standpoint, but that’s not the point here.

He mentioned how the weight of the pure chicken breast would probably make you feel fuller faster. He said that the effects from eating the McNuggets wouldn’t hit you right away, which means an even greater rate of consumption could be had with them compared to the CFA nuggets. However, because starch expands, the amount of regret you’ll be faced with at the end of the ordeal might be considerably worse than CFA.

Any nutritional experts want to chime in? Let me know. I’ll be testing out my hypothesis fairly soon. 100 McNuggets? Please. I’m gunning for 150.

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On Milkshakes

by on 05. Dec, 2011 in Reviews

I’m no milkshake expert. But for some reason, shakes seem to be a vital element to the continued success of Chick-fil-A. Outside of “What should I get for my first Chick-fil-A meal?”, easily the most asked question I get is, “How do you like the shakes?”

I like the shakes fine. But again, I’m no milkshake expert.

But there are a few tenets that all milshakes must abide by:

  1. When the milkshake arrives, it must be impossible to suck out through the straw they give you. If you use every ounce of power in your mouth and you end up giving yourself a headache with absolutely no reward, the milkshake was made correctly.
  2. Actually, I think that’s it. I mean, it should be creamy and not icy, but I’ve never had any problems with that.
I will freely admit to not trying every flavor, but I do have experience with most. I’m a fairly boring person, and as such, I love vanilla shakes. But  I don’t do chocolate shakes. There is too much going on in my life, in the world, and in the cosmos for me to even dream of drinking that — ALL of that. It’s just too much.
If I had to pick a go-to shake, it would easily be the cookies and cream. Something about the texture really appeals to me. In most shakes, there is just a monotonous soft that is unshakable. It affects the appetite and your will to finish it. Cookies and cream provides a bit of graininess to go with the smooth creaminess of the shake, which somehow (even though graininess has very seldom been used in a positive light) makes the experience that much more worthwhile.
I am a fan of the peppermint shake that they are advertising right now for the holidays, though I very much understand that peppermint isn’t everyone’s favorite. What I don’t recommend is the banana pudding shake that resurfaces every once in a while. I was, for some reason, expecting real banana in the shake, and when it turned out to be flavored with artificial banana syrup, I was crestfallen. I don’t enjoy the taste of artificial banana. Banana-flavored Laffy Taffy is in contention for my least favorite thing ever. But hey, if that’s your scene, go for it.
(I didn’t forget the strawberry shake, I just don’t think it’s worth it if you’re dining alone. Strawberry shakes are meant to be shared. As are all of these shakes. But seriously, I’ve never finished a strawberry shake on my own, and I’ve looked down on people who have. )
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Follow Your Local Chick-fil-A on Facebook. Seriously.

by on 05. Dec, 2011 in Guides

One of the reasons why I love Chick-fil-A is that every location you go to is a little different. Menu items are the same, and so should their mandatory “my pleasure” response when you say “thank you.” But each store adopts its own identity, which its location and the local residents largely contribute to.

As such, “liking” your local Chick-fil-A can be a wise one-second investment. Each location is encouraged to have its own Facebook page that updates its most recent deals. It’s a good way for the Chick-fil-A to gain a sense of community with its local eaters, and for us, it’s a good way to scope out free food.

The Chick-fil-A in La Habra, for instance, has a promotion on every rainy day called the “raincheck” that is exclusive to that location. Whenever it rains, if you mention a “raincheck” when you order a large drink, you’ll get a free Chick-fil-A entree of your choice.

Chick-fil-A loves giving food away for free, and getting updates from Facebook is an easy way to spread the word quickly. Many do community events to help promote their individual CFA brand. Again, the La Habra Chick-fil-A is wildly successful in this regard — they host a chicken nugget eating contest every once in a while for their hungry followers. (I was a participant in their 2nd contest ever.)

So when you ‘like’ your local Chick-fil-A, know that you aren’t just following a faceless corporate entity. There’s a reason to do so, and it happens to be a good one.

 

 

 

 

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A Matter of Protocol, Decorum

by on 04. Dec, 2011 in News

The teams playing in the 2011 Chick-fil-A Bowl have been announced. Should be loads of fun for Auburn and Virginia!

Wait. Chick-fil-A announced this on a Sunday? That’s cruel. Also, ironic. You know, that the one thing the corporation has divulged on their sacred day is something absolutely no one cares about.

We of SoS Nation are still starving. But hey, at least now we have the comfort of knowing that the Southeastern Conference (SEC) will continue its regularly scheduled dominance (assuming it is Auburn that wins in this bowl). Now if only we knew of a way of converting this game into caloric intake equivalent of a #1 combo.

(Also, why hasn’t Chick-fil-A cashed in on their own college bowl game? A Chick-fil-A bowl consisting of nuggets and coleslaw? I’d eat that.)

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