Review: You Probably Shouldn’t Eat at Chick-fil-A

eater.com ^ | 6/9/17 | Ryan Sutton

[SoFloFreeper]

People love Chick-fil-A, the poultry-centric fast-food chain whose corporate purpose is to “glorify God,” and whose strict Sunday closure means that every employee gets at least one day of rest.

People love the carnival-like waffle fries, the neonatal ward-like hospitality, the cleanliness on par with a Silicon Valley chip manufacturer, the fresh-squeezed lemonade spiked with soft-serve ice cream, the aromatic peach shakes, the admirably bare-bones fried-chicken sandwich, the viral fan song set to the tune of the Beatles’s “Yesterday,” and the famous Polynesian sauce, an agrodolce condiment that looks like what would happen if a stop sign were melted down in a magical volcano made of pineapple, ginger, and corn syrup.

People don’t love Chick-fil-A, the Atlanta-based, family-owned chain that’s heavily rooted in the South but that’s expanding aggressively into new markets like New York and Washington, fueling long lines and, occasionally, opposition. Millions of dollars of the chain’s past profits funded groups that opposed same-sex marriage during an era when millions of Americans were fighting for their civil rights; smaller donations went to a group that practiced conversion therapy, a practice that stems from the discredited belief that homosexuality is a mental illness.

About a year before the Supreme Court struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act in June 2013, chief executive Dan Cathy said that “we’re inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.” Following an uproar over those comments, Chick-fil-A pledged, on Facebook, to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena, and “to treat everyone “with honor, dignity and respect,” regardless of sexual orientation.

This is all to say, reckoning with Chick-fil-A is complicated. There’s the social question, which is how a Biblically grounded institution — whose $8 billion in sales dwarf KFC’s domestic operations — will fare as it expands outside of regions where it’s perceived as a beloved community cornerstone, rather than a venue whose mere presence evokes the type of anger normally directed at unqualified politicians.

And there’s the culinary question, which is whether you should brave the (fast-moving) lines at the home of the “original” pressure-fried chicken sandwich, or whether you should patronize more ambitious (and progressive) poultry-purveying peers like Fuku (only in New York) or Shake Shack.

I used to visit the Chick-fil-A during my D.C. college days, circa 2000, as a cheap and reasonably tasty source of protein after a workout. Nearly two decades later, in my capacity as a restaurant critic, I’m here to report that the increasingly ubiquitous chain serves a pretty good fast-food breakfast, a pretty great frozen coffee, and a pretty average chicken sandwich.

I’m also here to report that it’s the only top 10 quick-service restaurant that doesn’t mention sexual orientation in its online equal opportunity statement, and that it holds a zero rating on LGBT benefits and worker protections from a prominent advocacy group. McDonald’s scored 100. (When I asked Chick-fil-A about this, a rep responded with a general statement reaffirming its commitment to equal opportunity and said that it’s up to local franchisees to determine benefits.)

New York City's first standalone location of Chick-fil-A opened nearly two years ago to small protests and heavy lines. The chain plans on opening about a dozen restaurants across the five boroughs in the next three years, and it’s hard to blame it; the three locations I visited for this review continue to attract the type of fervent lunchtime crowds one might’ve expected during the early days at Momofuku Noodle Bar.

Chick-fil-A’s draw is simplicity: It’s all about the chicken. There are no burgers, hot dogs, tacos, cakes, hand pies, or lunchtime burritos — unless you count the 1990s-style wrap sandwich. There isn’t any beef, and the only pork is relegated to a bit of breakfast sausage or bacon.

That simplicity extends to the chicken sandwich, which is largely free from adulterants. The larger fast-food industry, which has no problem selling Froot Loop shakes and other things that will turn our livers into foie gras, generally abides by the false assumption that America wants a crummy house salad — watery lettuce, out-of-season tomatoes, and a chokehold of mayo — on its chicken sandwiches. Chick-fil-A knows better: The classic sandwich is nothing more than chicken, pickles (always on the bottom, so your tongue is instantly zapped with acidity), a white bun that gets out of the way of the chicken, butter, sugar, and enough salt — 1,350 milligrams — to turn your duodenum into charcuterie.

Structurally, it’s tempting to call it the platonic ideal of the chicken sandwich. It doesn’t exist to highlight infinite trendy toppings or revel in assembly-line customization, a la Chipotle. It exists to show off chicken. Until you start eating it. And you realize it’s not showing off much at all.

The only chicken at Chick-fil-A is boneless, skinless breast meat. While some parts of the culinary world explore how to extract more nose-to-tail goodness from poultry, or at least find a way to make sure your white meat doesn’t taste like seitan, the country’s most prominent chicken chain is focusing on the part of the chicken that bores, and that, in the hands of the corporate chefs here, really doesn’t taste like a whole lot.

To be fair, not a lot of folks turn to fast-food chicken expecting an epicurean inquiry into poultry funk or arcane breeding. People eat fast-food chicken for salt, fat, and perhaps most importantly, crunch. Problem is, Chick-fil-A’s chicken has too much salt, not enough fat, and very little crunch. The chief flavors of the sandwich are industrial neon pickle, sugar, and peanut oil.

If we lived in a post-apocalyptic world where Chick-fil-A was the only restaurant chain and all the remaining medical centers still had world-class dialysis machines, maybe this would suffice. But walk into any Shake Shack and your chicken sandwich will shatter with eons more crunch. It’s enough to make you want to forgive the mayo. Swing by a Fuku, whose lean butter- and pickle-topped sandwich is heavily influenced by Chick-fil-A, and you’ll experience an incendiary thigh meat with tons more flavor and texture. Heck, even drop by McDonald’s, order the buttermilk crispy chicken sandwich, hold the tomato, and you’ll still have a chicken sandwich with more texture and less sodium shock. The state of fast-food chicken sandwiches is strong, and The Chick just isn’t at the top of the list anymore.

Chick-fil-A, alas, doesn’t have much to worry about financially; it’s currently America’s favorite fast-food restaurant, according to one consumer satisfaction index. Sales actually soared the year Cathy made his controversial remarks. That means we can all expect more mayo-free chicken sandwiches across our fruited plain. So when you find yourself at Chick-fil-A, by choice or by chance, here’s a rundown of what’s great, what’s good, and what other prominent chains do better.

Chick-n-Minis (aka mini chicken sandwiches, breakfast only): These nuggets stuffed into mini yeast rolls aren’t a pretty dish; the craggy bits of breaded chicken are halfway falling out of the undersized rolls, some of which are nearly broken by the time you pick them up. If you saw these at a hot buffet you’d hop into your car and find another hot buffet. So be it; the rolls, brushed with honey butter, are chain’s best foil for its salt-lick chicken. This is a dish that doesn’t try to be something better than it is; it basks in the baseness of its own junk-food turpitude. Rating: 9/10. Calories: 350. Fat: 14g. Sodium: 880mg.

[SoFloFreeper]

...more...Chick-fil-A deserves credit for its labor practices (it boasts the lowest rate of wage violations in the industry); its generous philanthropy, which now largely focuses on youth and education ($9 million in scholarships for team members this year); as well as its LGBTQ outreach efforts at the franchise level. But none of that detracts from the following: A billion-dollar company whose foundation spent a small fortune funding groups that oppose equal rights for marginalized and bullied people can’t expect their restaurants to feel like truly hospitable places if it can’t even mention those marginalized and bullied people on its website’s equal opportunity statement.

A sense of welcomeness for all can be tough to divine when the corporate parent of your local fast-food outlet continues to donate millions to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a sports ministry that asks its volunteers to check an online box and agree that marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman, and whose local chapters require camp staffers and student leaders to pledge they won’t engage in homosexual acts, described as a “sin.”

In case you’d like to know what your order of nuggets is implicitly endorsing.

I don’t mention this to dispute Chick-fil-A’s constitutional right to free speech. I mention this because it will take a lot more than a smile and a chicken sandwich, quite frankly, to convince people who don’t want to dine or work there that the chain is a positive addition to the community, rather than one whose mere presence, if only prospective, symbolizes exclusion and inspires protest.

[PGalt]

Eat whatever you want.

#freedom

TOTALITARIANS can ESAD.

[DoughtyOne]

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...this is a general all-purpose message, and should not be seen as targeting any individual I am responding to...

Just $622.00 to 93.00%

[UB355]

Wife is working tonight. Grocery store out of Rotisserie chicken. Chick-Fil-A for me tonight.

[Squidpup]

Their Frosted strawberry lemonade- wonderful! Making me hungry

[tet68]

I’ll have to stop there next time.
Just don’t have the peach shake, it’s awful.

[originalbuckeye]

So, more Leftist screed. Boycott those who don’t have your piloitcal beliefs. And they say it is US! We are NOT the ones dividing the nation. They are, the HYPOCRITES!

[originalbuckeye]

+political+ (should proofread)

[HokieMom]

<< People don’t love Chick-fil-A, >>

Huh? The article proves otherwise.

[chajin]

or at least find a way to make sure your white meat doesn’t taste like seitan

They can't get away from the religion issue, no matter how hard they try...

[wbill]

Hmmm. Might need to swing by there for breakfast tomorrow. Depends on if I have the time to wait 20 min in line.

Not because of poor service....because the lines are ALWAYS that long at the CFA nearby.

I don't think that they've much to worry about. :-)

[Jamestown1630]

“eons more crunch”???

alas, so be it.

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

I’m not much into chicken (although their Chik-n-Minis and their soup are great), but I drop by there occasionally to get something just to support them. Buycotts work better than boycotts. Buy Chik-fil-A.

[day10]

Yep, sounds good. I was wondering what I would grab on the way to my golf league tonight. This unhinged loon just helped me decide.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

With all due respect, Mr. Sutton, you probably shouldn’t think that anyone gives the slightest s**t about what you think. K?

[Williams]

Now I know not to eat at Shake Shack anymore. Chick-fil-A is great.

[Ingtar]

I am scratching my head a bit. Like other fast food, there is too much salt. But where is the reason not to eat there mentioned in the headline?

[Skywise]

It’s reviews like this that make me go out of my way to eat at chic-fil-a.

And I’ll now avoid shake shack.

[Ouderkirk]

I happen to liek Chick-Fil-A

Their food is good, service excellent, restaurants are spotless. What's not to love.

as far as homosexuality is a mental illness, yes...it is.

AS with the jerk-off who made that stupid movie Super-Size Me.....Who eats there every day?

[Williams]

How is it discriminatory if the job application form doesn’t mention sexual orientation?