Fast Food Review: El Pollo Loco Chicken Sliders

This trend of mini food is getting annoying. Not Lakers-car-flags annoying. ("Look, I love the Lakers, I have a car flag! I swear I've been watching all season and not just because they've made the Finals!") Not annoying in the same way that ESPN.com and the L.A. Times website now have embedded videos on almost every page and load slower than Sid Bream rounding third. (That's for my friend Nick, who grew up in Pittsburgh back when there was a professional baseball team there.) And definitely not as annoying as the fact that The Unit has been cancelled. (Between The Shield ending and the last two seasons of 24 being unbelievably boring, The Unit was one of only two shows left on television left that I like.) But still annoying.

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I do not have a problem with the concept of restaurants and fast food joints making smaller products at lower prices. But of all the mini burgers and sandwiches I have tried recently, not a single one was better than a full size burger or sandwich would have been. What's the point of paying less money if you get a crappier product? Is getting a lousy KFC Snacker for 99 cents a better deal than getting a delicious In-N-Out cheeseburger for $2.19? No, absolutely not.

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I've usually enjoyed El Pollo Loco's promotions, be it the recent chicken tortilla roll, or the years-ago fuego chili orange chicken. When I saw they were jumping on board the sliders train, like Jack in the Box, Burger King, Johnny Rockets, etc., I knew I would have to give them a try. They are offered in three flavors, each 99 cents: original, bbq chicken, and spicy. They are all served on telera rolls - a flat bread that is basically the Mexican version of a French roll.

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These were definitely my favorite of the mini foods I have tried this year. I did not think they were great by any means, but I would try them again. They did not taste like a vehicle to get rid of leftover food (like KFC's Snackers) or a reason to have an extremely annoying commercial with midget cowboys (like Jack in the Box.)

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Each of the sandwiches had something I liked and something I didn't. My friend Zach tried them a couple days ago and reported that he wasn't sure how he felt about the buns, suggesting they didn't go well with the crispy chicken. I agree with him. But I really liked the chicken. If these patties could have been served on the same soft buns KFC uses for their Chicken Littles, I would have loved them. I liked the spicy sauce, but the original slider had some kind of a mayonnaise sauce (or maybe it was just mayonnaise) that I did not enjoy. I slathered a packet of El Pollo Loco's jalapeno sauce over to mask the mayo, and it was better.

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The hard bun went much better with the shredded bbq chicken, and I really liked the cole slaw that comes on the slider. Unfortunately, there were only a couple dime-size pieces of chicken and the rest were tiny shreds in a mess of barbecue sauce. And it was cold. Considering I had waited about 15 minutes to get my food (the girl behind the counter was very nice and apologized and offered me a free flan, but I didn't want a free flan; I wanted my food) I thought the least I could have expected was to get warm chicken. Apparently I was asking too much. I would definitely like to try this bbq chicken slider again to see if I get a better, warmer one, because if so it might be damn good.

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By the way, there are a lot of people who are adamant about pointing out that not all mini burgers and sandwiches are sliders; that in order to be called a slider it has to be a beef patty grilled to a very specific standard. These are the same people who, in high school, pointed out to the teacher when he or she had not yet collected homework, and who told everyone who would listen a decade ago that the millennium did not start until the year 2001. They are right, of course, but they are dorks.

Reference: http://animmovablefeast.blogspot.com/2009/06/fast-food-review-el-pollo-loco-chicken.html

Need Help Dieting? Ask the Colonel... Colonel Sanders That Is!

Nowadays, eating fast food seems to be a way of life. Some argue "it doesn't have to be that way" but the truth is... sometimes you just need a quick meal.

The problem is, fast food (generally speaking) is horrible for your body. However, nearly every fast food restaurant offers at least one healthy choice on their menu.

One of the healthiest choices, in regards to fast food, is on KFC's menu.

Traditionally, KFC is thought of as "Deep Fried Finger Lickin' Chicken" that tastes great but comes with a side of "open heart surgery."

So what is this "healthy" KFC menu item you ask?

Honey BBQ KFC Snacker

Nutritional Facts

• Calories: 420 (A little high, but if eaten at lunch, these calories will be used up while your active throughout the day)
  



• Fat: 6 grams (5 of those grams are unsaturated)
  



• Saturated Fat: 1 gram (Excellent!)
  



• Protein: 28 grams (Excellent Source!)
  

Sure the "Snackers" are small (hence the name) but this tasty sandwich works EXTREMELY well into the "Six Meals a Day Diet" that I am constantly promoting!

This blog is part of an ongoing series: "Fast Food = Weight Loss; Your Guide to Healthy Fast Food Choices..."

For more health and fitness tips and tricks... Be sure to visit iiFitnessii!

Healthy living!

Rob Farmer

Reference: http://iifitnessii.blogspot.com/2009/11/need-help-dieting-ask-colonel-colonel.html

Public Service Announcement - Video

What's more dangerous than text messaging while applying eyeliner on the 405 freeway during rush hour? You will have to check out The 99 Cent Chef's new video to find out. It features Kentucky Fried Chicken's deliciously distracting 99 cent Snacker sandwich, part of KFC's value menu offerings. A favorite of The Chef's, this drive-thru deep-fried delicacy has the classic batter coating KFC is justly famous for. The Chef stays away from the frou-frou toppings, including spicy Buffalo or barbeque sauce; they only serve to make the crusty batter soggy.



A tender white meat fillet topped with a black pepper/mayo spread and shredded lettuce, and nestled in a sesame seed dinner roll-sized bun, KFC's Snacker is a tasty budget classic worth a quick freeway-exit snack stop. However, like McDonalds' lawsuit- inducing hot coffee, KFC's Snacker provides the Chef with a video cautionary tale*. The following should be mandatory viewing for all DMV auto license applicants and high school student drivers! So buckle-up and take a cruise with The 99 Cent Chef.

Public Service Announcement Video



Play it here. The video runs 1 minute.

*No fenders were dented, or bodily harm was done, in the making of this video.

Go here to embed or view video at youtube.

Reference: http://the99centchef.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html

Review: KFC - Chicken Little Sandwich

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The KFC Chicken Little Sandwich is a relic of the KFC of old when fried chicken, sides, and biscuits were the only thing on the menu. Reminiscent of your childhood school cafeteria lunch, the KFC Chicken Little is simplicity in itself. A thin breaded chicken patty, a bit of mayo, sandwiched inside a dinner roll.

I'd like to say that it tasted as good as I remember but the patty was very little meat and any flavor it had was overwhelmed by the dinner roll. Also, at the same price as a KFC Snacker, the Snacker simply offers more meat, more flavor, and more value if not the same nostalgia.

Still, the Chicken Little is still available in a few scattered KFCs here and there. If you're still looking for that familiar taste, even if it might not live up to the memories, check your local KFC. You might get lucky.

Reference: http://brandeating.blogspot.com/2009/10/review-kfcs-chicken-little-sandwich.html

El Pollo Loco - Chicken Sliders ($1.29) Rating: 5

Mark Lim - When KFC introduced Grilled Chicken to their menu it turned their war with El Pollo Loco into one giant soap opera. It was like KFC stealing El Pollo Loco's woman at the altar on horseback, giving her amnesia, and switching their babies at birth all at the same time.



El Pollo Loco has decided to fight back by copying KFC's "Snacker" sandwich and renaming it The Chicken Slider.

Both are pretty decent but I'd have to give the edge to the Snacker because KFC offers a larger sandwich, more flavors, and uses a better chicken chunk.

These El Pollo Loco Sliders are advertised at 99 cents but that's only for the Original Flavor. Spicy and BBQ are $1.29 which leaves me feeling cheated.

The chicken used in the Sliders are comparable with McDonald's frozen chicken but they're not too bad. I actually quite enjoyed the Original Flavor.

I have quite a large head so it's hard to judge how big these Sliders actually are.

Maybe it's me but fast food sandwiches covered in BBQ sauce are never good. The KFC BBQ Snacker and the El Pollo Loco BBQ Sliders are both pretty gross.



El Pollo Loco - Original Slider, BBQ Slider, Spicy Slider


Taste ------------ (5) Original was by far better than the other two

Presentation -----(5) Lots of mess for a little burger

Price ------------- (6) $0.99 - $1.29 isn't too bad

Quantity --------- (4) They're the size of half a tennis ball

Satisfaction ----- (5) I probably could eat about 5 before throwing up



These aren't my favorite and I believe the KFC Snacker to be the superior mini chicken burger but I probably would get them again if I wanted something small and cheap. What El Pollo Loco should have done was use their superior Flame Grilled Chicken and made that into a sandwich. That would have been a total change of pace and something wonderfully awesome.



Be Fat! Be Happy!

Reference: http://ohsofat.blogspot.com/2009/06/el-pollo-loco-chicken-sliders-129.html

Fast Food Review: KFC Chicken Littles

I did not see this coming. I ducked into KFC for a quick lunch in Riverside with the intention of trying some items on their new value menu. And what did I find as their #1 combo but Chicken Littles. I could not have been happier if I had to gone to Din Tai Fung, and, while walking around the block during the inevitable wait, seen King Arthur's Pizza back in it's old location on Baldwin Ave. (OK, that's a lie: I would have been much happier if King Arthur's returned. A couple years ago I said to my brother that if King Arthur's returned it would be one of the 5 happiest days of my life. He paused and said "That would pretty much be #1 for me." We decided that even though we were in our late 20s we would still ask our dad to give us 4 quarters each to play video games like we did 20 years ago.)

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When I was a kid I loved Chicken Littles. The KFC up the hill from my parents' house sold them for 49 cents each and sometimes I would eat ten of them. I can't remember when they disappeared, but I'm guessing it was sometime in my early teens. When I was 21 I moved to Colorado and while going through a KFC drive-thru one night to pick up some food to watch Monday Night Football with my friend, I saw they had Chicken Littles on their menu. I got excited and ordered a dozen of them, only to be told by the employee "we just discontinued those yesterday and we haven't taken them off the menu yet." I figured that was the closest I would ever come to having Chicken Littles again.

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But here they were on the board in front of me. "You have Chicken Littles?" I asked. "Yes," the man said with a concerned look on his face (as if he was about to tell me they contained poison or something,) "but they take 5 minutes to cook." As if this was some kind of deal-breaker. I would have waited an hour if that's what it took.

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The Chicken Littles come served with a pepper-mayo sauce that is either delicious or disgusting, although in all honesty I've never decided which. I always put KFC's hot sauce on them, which I did again this time. I also tried one with honey mustard, although it was nowhere near as good as the hot sauce. They were fantastic. I only ate three of them (I can't overeat like I used to) but that was enough.

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They cost twice as much as they did when I was a kid, but they're still only 99 cents each. Basically the same price as the KFC Snacker, which I tried years ago and found to be inedible. I will be back again to this KFC to have more of them soon, although part of me is expecting that they won't be available next time. Hell, for all I know, maybe that KFC won't even be there. Maybe it was a fried chicken Brigadoon. I don't care, though. I got to eat Chicken Littles again.

Reference: http://animmovablefeast.blogspot.com/2009/03/fast-food-review-kfc-chicken-littles.html

Review: KFC Fully Loaded Big Box

Going into this review, I had the unfortunate experience of reading the nutritional information regarding the KFC Fully Loaded Big Box. With an estimated 1600 calories, the meal shouldn't be legal to sell without a permit. But because of my duties to bring the truth to the people I fasted for the first half of the day so that I could take on the big box without perishing later. Well this was the plan atleast.







The Big Box has been around for years and is just another example of why America is fat. I remember a few years back a high school friend was entertaining a foreign exchange student for the summer during the period when the KFC Snacker was being introduced. In a matter of a few months, the kid from Europe had gained a hefty twenty pounds. Just goes to show you that the Colonel is still trying to kill you from beyond the grave.







The Fully Loaded Box Meal, is the pretty much the same as the original Big Box meal, except that it adds a KFC Snacker instead of Popcorn Chicken. KFC is the kind of place that I feel should just be barely hanging on. Their food is traditionally sloppy. When I was younger, my family had ordered a bucket of chicken that included a fried chicken beak and a complete piece of batter with no chicken encased whatsoever. I feel as though that I'm doing KFC a favor when I eat there but for whatever reason the place is always crowded. And another tradition is the fact that the employees are never organized, not suited to handle a rush, and never get anything right.



So walking into KFC, I was ready for Slopfest '08. I certainly did not leave disappointed.



While in the line, I was the beneficiary of one of the largest sideswipes humanly possible. Being cut in line, blatantly in fact, at KFC. Its one thing to feel slighted, but its just depressing whenever something like this happens in such an establishment. Its like being stranded at a rest stop in South Dakota without any pants. Things just can't get much worse.



So I eventually get waited on, and I order the fully loaded big box. This is quite the complex order because there are variables a plenty. First off we have the snacker. There are many varieties including, buffalo, nacho cheese, fish, and barbeque. But I felt like it was the right thing to go with the original. Then there's the two options for sides. KFC has the largest bamboozle of sides this side of the Cape of Good Hope. The sides include baked beans, corn on the cob, potato wedges, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, cole slaw, green beans, corn niblets, and rice. I was completely caught off guard during the exchange and I ended up ordering the cheese paste and the potato wedges. Lastly I was asked whether I wanted a leg or a thigh of the original recipe chicken. Upon choosing the leg, I was told that they were out of legs. Upon saying that a thigh would be fine I was told that they were out of thighs as well. Hmmm, something seems off whenever I was given two possible options and they were both gone. All very typical KFC. So I ended up getting an Extra Crispy drumstick. The meal is topped off with two Original Recipe strips and a 32 oz beverage. I attempted to save my life by getting Diet Pepsi whenever I was met with a sign reading "The Diet Pepsi are out". Keeping in mind that there was only one Diet Pepsi spicket you'll have an idea of what kind of intellect I was dealing with.







As you can see, to my bitter disappointment, this was not a big box meal at all. This was a Big Tray Box Meal. How can you be selling a promotional item and not even attempt to recreate the product advertised. I mean, its the name of the meal. The least you can do is attempt to give me a box.



So I started to eat individual items. First off was the KFC Snacker.







What you see here is the artist formerly known as a sandwich. Upon opening the wrapper, the sandwich just came undone. Its hard to even see where the sandwich starts and ends. But I made due and ate the sandwich as best as I could. The KFC Snacker is simple, its just a bun with lettuce and mayo. It was probably the highlight of my meal. Which is saying something after you take a look at that picture.



Next I decided to take on the sides.







The Potato Wedges looked pretty good. But unfortunately they were limp beyond belief. There was an extreme sog factor that could only be compared to a flooded public restroom. You just don't want your potatoes to be that mushy.









I don't know what planet these came from, but I've never seen mac and cheese before that didn't stay mixed together. As you can see, the cheese is almost afraid of the noodles. I actually ate some whole noodles that were naked of cheese, as the pasty cheese concoction flaked off like a Head and Shoulders commercial. I could literally feel this muddled mess destroying my intestines as I ate it.







The KFC Biscuit is a classic. Warm, buttery, flaky. Nothing could go wrong with it and nothing did. They finally got something moderately right.







Lastly we'll head to the chicken. The Original Recipe strips should be renamed to nuggets. Greasy, puny, and rather uninspired. The colonel's original recipe was truly lost in translation. Last but not least, we had the Extra Crispy drumstick. This was in definitely in the top four worst things I have ever eaten. I took my first bite and it felt like I bit into a swamp. There was so much grease waiting for me inside that there was a palpable drip of death onto my tray.









Thats the carnage that was left. Little did I know that this looks peaceful and serene compared to what was happening to my body. It wasn't long before I felt awful. It wasn't even as if I had a stomachache as much as I had a full body ache. My legs weren't circulating blood correctly and I began having what seemed like blurred vision. Eating food should not do this to you. I don't know what KFC does with their food but radioactivity and nuclear fusion quite possibly are two of the 13 herbs and spices in the Colonel's Original Recipe.



I have to give the Fully Loaded Big Box a 1.5/5. The worst rating in g&gg's history. I didn't eat anything for the next fifteen hours and I contemplated never eating again. Like I said before, food, fast food or not, should not do this to you.









To top it all off, as I left KFC I was bombarded with audacity and cockiness. KFC literally has a sign that says "See ya tomorrow". How can KFC even expect anyone to make multiple trips to their establishment in the course of a month, let alone tomorrow.



So if you want to drink grease, burn up your intestines, clog your arteries, and lose three and half months off of your life, by all means go out and get the Fully Loaded Big Box Meal.



KFC Fully Loaded Big Box: 1.5/5



Until the next sauce,



Andrew

Reference: http://goodiesandgimmicksgalore.blogspot.com/2008/11/review-kfc-fully-loaded-big-box.html

KenTacoHut, the Famous Bowl & the KFC Big Box Meal

Talk about an Appetite for Destruction.



[Note: Many of the events chronicled here took place the day Chinese Democracy came out, Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008 -- also the date I started writing this post. So while what follows is by no means timely, the delay is kind of appropriate, all things considered.]



I'd been waiting for this day since my junior year at East High. Back then, Use Your Illusion I & II were pretty much the soundtrack to lunch. We'd crank those albums as we headed to one of our usual spots, top three in the rotation being Taco Bell, KFC, and Dog & Shake (the latter a Wichita, Kan. favorite). So to properly commemorate the release of Chinese Democracy -- "Music's Most Anticipated Album EVER" -- step two had to be grabbing something to eat at KenTacoHut.



If only there was such a thing as a KenTacoDog&Shake. If only.



But I'm getting ahead of myself. What was step one of the proper commemoration, you ask? Enjoying some Ten High, the preferred bourbon of high schoolers everywhere. Shaw and I conquered this task in the Best Buy parking lot before we went in to get my copy of Chinese Democracy. (On vinyl, thank you.) I was surprised to see there wasn't a line at Best Buy -- I thought for sure we'd have to wait around at least a little bit what with Chinese Democracy nearly 15 years in the making. Not so much. Since we had a little extra time before KenTacoHut opened, we took the opportunity to conquer step one again.



There was already one guy outside KenTacoHut when we got there, waiting to pick up like a dozen buckets of the Colonel's legacy for a Chiefs tailgate party. Thus, at least in Overland Park this Sunday morning, there was a greater demand for KFC then GNR. OPKS, you are not a city of rock.



Once they let us in and dude had his chicken, I stepped up to the KFC counter and ordered a Famous Bowl. That's Popcorn Chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, and cheese all layered in a bowl together. I'd had a morbid curiosity about this thing for a while.



Clearly the most likely explanation for the origin of the Famous Bowl is that a bunch of KFC bigwigs used dark magic to conjure forth the Colonel from the great beyond so that they might seek his guidance, to which the Colonel -- now undead and none too happy about it -- said, "I say now boy, just put a bunch of stuff in a bowl, you hear?," right before he ate the brains of all but one survivor who lived to tell the tale. The Famous Bowl is that sinister.



On the other hand, there is Popcorn Chicken in it and that's delicious, so how bad could the Famous Bowl be?



The answer is that the Famous Bowl was surprisingly tasty. For four bites. And then it all went to hell. The Popcorn Chicken turned soggy and the chicken-potato-gravy ratio got hopelessly thrown out of whack and it was just no good. Which is too bad because the Famous Bowl is kind of big -- you're going to end up with a lot left.



KFC, against my better judgment I might be compelled to try your Famous Bowl a second time if you came out a smaller version, like about the size of a pudding cup. You could call it the B-List Famous Bowl. Or make people order it Child Star Sized.



Shaw and I ended up taking turns holding big sporkfuls of our leftover Famous Bowls upside down to see how long it would take for gravity to do its business. We topped out close to 30 seconds.



Feeling like I needed to take advantage of more that KenTacoHut had to offer, I also ordered a Chili Cheese Burrito and a Volcano Taco from Taco Bell, and quickly learned a valuable lesson -- it's probably not the best idea to go to Taco Bell before noon, and you certainly never want to be the first order of the day. Taco Bell needs a little bit of time to warm up and find its groove.



Earlier while waiting for our food, we took notice of a display hawking the KFC Big Box Meal. It consists of:

• Your choice of a drumstick or thigh, either Original Recipe or Extra Crispy



• Whatever variety of KFC Snacker you want



• Two Original Recipe Crispy Strips



• Two sides, a biscuit and a large drink
  

Three days later on Thanksgiving Eve with nowhere better to go for lunch, we found ourselves at a different KFC ready to check that action out.


We each got it with an Original Recipe thigh and a Buffalo KFC Snacker. It was good. As well it should be -- it's a box full of fried chicken-related awesomeness. Even if we agreed that the thigh was the weak link in all this.



See, in the KFC Big Box Meal, you've already got a KFC Snacker plus Crispy Strips and a couple of different sauces to dip them in. If KFC wants its actual traditional fried chicken to come off as anything more than a greasy afterthought, they need to give you a fried chicken breast, or at least two pieces like a drumstick and a thigh, or maybe two drumsticks. Not two thighs, though -- somehow it seems like that would be even more unremarkable.



For a solitary thigh or drumstick cannot hold its own all by itself -- it's just not enough to make an impact. To truly function at full capacity, it needs to accompany another piece of bone-in fried chicken. I would've happily traded in the thigh for a few bites of Popcorn Chicken.


The sides were good -- we both went with mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese. However, we must note that in the world of fast food fried chicken side dishes, they're all completely owned by the red beans and rice at Popeyes.



Make no mistake, we're fans of the KFC Big Box Meal. Quite frankly, what it all boils down to is that we're suckers for ridiculous quantities of food that comes in a box. It's like a Happy Meal for adults. The only thing missing is a cool toy surprise to distract you from thinking about the fact that in one sitting you just ate like a total of nine chickens.



That said, if KFC wanted to throw a Child Star Sized Famous Bowl in the box, I certainly wouldn't be opposed.

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KenTacoHut: 7100 West 119th Street | Overland Park, KS 66213

Reference: http://lunchblogkc.blogspot.com/2009/01/kentacohut-famous-bowl-kfc-big-box-meal.html

KFC Snacker $1 Coupon

Thanks to More Than Enough, here's a new offer from KFC. They ask you a quiz question, but they let you keep picking until you get it right (thanks, Alyssa). My advice is to wait until tomorrow morning (8:00 AM ET) to try this because it is limited to the first 1,000 each day for the next 10 days (only one offer per email address per household). It sounds like they will mail you the coupon.

KFC Snacker $1 Coupon

Reference: http://freebies4mom.blogspot.com/2008/04/kfc-snacker-1-coupon.html

Subliminal Hidden Message in KFC Snacker Commercial

Review: KFC Snacker

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A value option sandwich at KFC, the Snacker sells for 99 cents. It is basically a KFC Chicken Strip, shredded lettuce, and pepper mayo sandwiched by a sesame dinner roll.

It's a pretty good value considering that buying a strip alone even with a coupon is at least $1. It's a pretty good snack as well with good meat to bun ratio.

The saltiness of the chicken and mayo are well balanced by the soft, squishy roll and someone soggy lettuce (it'd probably be more crisp if I didn't have it to-go). Around southern California, the Snacker is also available with buffalo sauce, with cheese, and with shredded BBQ chicken.