The Tuesday Taste: Church's Chicken

 

 

Friends are so alarming

and my lover's never charming

Life's just a cocktail party 

on the street... Big Apple

People dressed in plastic bags

directing traffic

Some kind of fashion

 

Another Tuesday, another Taste! Hope you all enjoyed a weekend of delicious and excessive food with your friends and loved ones (me, I worked a Raptors preseason game and ate mozzarella sticks. I regret nothing). This will be a short review, since I figure many of you are likely suffering holiday dinner hangovers and possibly not in a frame of mind to read about even more food. Works for me, because this week I just don't have a lot to say!

After that preseason game mentioned above, I went to the Church's Chicken location down by Queens Quay and York Street (a relatively new one). In fact, it seems all of Church's locations in Toronto are relatively new, as according to their website the first one here in T.O. opened in 2017. For some reason I recall there being one up at Dufferin and St. Clair West well before that, though it's entirely possible I'm confusing it with the many other available alliterative chicken products (Chester's Chicken, Chubby Chicken, Chica's Chicken, Choke a Chicken etc etc).

I'd tried Church's once before, though that had been a sandwich and not meat off the bone. My first regret upon entering on this occasion though... was letting these couple of dudes in before me. I'm not sure if they were stoned or just clueless idiots (perhaps both?) but they took about four minutes of hmmming and blank silence to order, and then about the same length of time to figure out how the soda dispenser worked. Seriously... my order was in already in my hands and these knuckleheads were still pushing buttons on the machine in complete dazed confusion. You could call them... dazed and confused?

As for the chicken itself... not spectacular but I rather like how it doesn't insist upon itself. Popeye's, while usually fine, always imposes this gross greasy flavour upon your mouth. KFC just doesn't taste like real food, which is a whole different kind of insistence. Church's doesn't try to dazzle with secret spices, instead bringing the focus upon its flaky crunchiness which in of itself is enjoyable. 

Since I got four pieces, I elected for half regular and half spicy. I guess my heat tolerance is strong with the force yet again, since I didn't find this "spicy" at all. There's some lingering earthy heat that provides some welcome extra flavour, a slight sting for the back of the mouth. As for the meat... well it's chicken: a bit fatty (fried and battered will do that) but also soft, tender, not dry even in the lighter meat and thankfully does indeed taste like the real thing.

Lets talk sides. First, the crinkle cut fries. Frankly... a bit of a let down. They look awesome... such a classic look for a classic American dish. While not terrible (certainly a slight step above your generic frozen fast food offering) they really could use something more. Whether it be a seasoning, or more crispiness, a killer dipping sauce (Church's only available sauces seem designed for their tenders) or just anything to add experience points so to level up. As is, these are rather like those frozen crinkle fries you buy in a grocery store and bake in the oven (although at least here half of them aren't burnt or still frozen). 

The true highlight has to be that biscuit. Absolutely stellar. Though semi-sticky to the touch, there's a real nice balance of honey sweet and buttery that makes this a delightful side. It's also moist all the way through, even once cool (a serious problem with other fast food biscuits I've encountered). This really tastes like something you might find in a better bakery somewhere.

Overall... Church's is plenty solid. Won't blow your mind, won't let you down either... it's pretty filling also (these pieces were quite large, I didn't finish all this in one go) so the bang for your buck is there. Getting a biscuit or two though is a definite necessary accompaniment. 

 

Burnt Ends -- Didn't write anything last week! Probably will have an extra something soon though... mostly been getting back into playing bass guitar lately. 

 

Mono! D'oh -- Does whiskey count as beer?

 

Tuesday Tune -- You've probably heard of these guys. I've always dug this song for being simultaneously groovy and depraved... so yeah, these guys.        

 

 

That's it for this week! Told you I didn't have much to say. Until next week, be kind, be well, be healthy, be vigilant in not spilling that mustard.