Spicy Chicken Nuggets from Wendy's
Boom. Wendy's Spicy Chicken Nuggets. These things alone are not really worth mentioning. But since real dollar menu items have kind of died in New York, it's always great to see things priced actually at a dollar. These were $0.99 and $1.08 after taxes. It's a steal. I'm sure some factory chicken on HGH died to make this happen for me. It's ok. Wendy's threw on enough spices to mask any semblance of these nuggets have to actual chicken meat. In fact I'm not sure what actual meat is supposed to taste like. A couple of weeks ago I bought some $9/lb berkshire pork. They were not any porkier than regular pork chops. This is to say, sometimes, pork tastes like chicken (read: tastes like nothing). So if I'm willing to spend $9 dollars on stupid pork, I'm sure as hell gonna try nuggets for $0.99. I even did it NYT style. Normally I just eat something once and tell it to you guys because lord knows I can't afford to do it three or four times to test for consistency. But these? I went TWICE. And I ate TWENTY-FIVE of them in two trips. See what I mean? Rigorous testing.
First I have to say that I'm too cheap to buy regular nuggets at $1.29 but at $0.99 I can't pass it up. If you don't like cheap chinks like myself, stop reading my blog. But back to you lovely folks who are reasonable and good Americans. The second most important thing about nuggets at Wendy's is that the sauces aren't as awesome as McDonald's. Sorry, it's just not. The barbeque sauce (which is never my first option), is about the same at both places for me. I don't want bbq sauce on my chicken nuggets, it's a personal thing. At McDonald's, it's all about Hot Mustard or Sweet and Sour. The problem with Wendy's is that they don't have Hot Mustard. And their sweet and sour sauce sucks. It's reddish orange and blah. Not good. They do however, have Honey Mustard sauce. Mm.... creamy and sweet. When we rank nugget sauces, Honey Mustard from Wendy's comes in third place for me. But when it's spicy chicken nuggets, the sweet mustard is actually perfect. The sweetness cuts the spiciness a bit and makes it a totally excellent experience.
I actually had fifteen nuggets with the bbq sauce. It was just ok. Moral of the story - get the honey mustard sauce with these spicy nuggets. Time for another rant... I know people bang on fast food and industrial production... but seriously, there's no food more American than fast food, and nothing more authentic than cheap i-don't-know-where-it-came-from fast food. It's baller. I feel like there's a middle ground between industrial production and green markets everywhere. The truth is that no matter what the average American wants to consume... whether it's corn based cereals or a peach... there will be companies that figure out how to profit on that. Industrial production feeds the world. That's a fact I don't need studies or numbers to confirm. There's more than 6 billion people on this planet and a billion of them go to bed hungry every fucking day. Green markets aren't ready to scale today and it's so convenient to say that we need more of those when we have enough food to eat and enough energy to type on a computer about it to likeminded individuals. We can't just move away from industrial production, we should just figure out how to make it better. Someone once said, "The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." Let's just take it one step at a time. We're not at the stage for farmers markets to take over the country. But we seem to want to let perfect get in the way of better. Maybe those eggs were real shit. There's no denying that. We still need to feed the country though... farm raised and organic isn't the solution. And eating fast food isn't that bad. I hate that somehow I have to defend fast food eating on a food blog. Really, defending the consumption of the most quintessential American food while on American soil? That requires defending? Fuck me.
(I invite you to follow me on Twitter so you can get more of my non-sense in another medium.)
Honey Mustard? You have to go ranch with nuggets, especially the spicy ones....it is awesome. And if you don't like ranch...I feel sorry for you
Rob
September 16, 2010 11:06 am
@Rob,
Damn, I didn't know they had ranch! I will revisit Wendy's and check this out!
Danny
September 16, 2010 1:28 pm
@Nicholas,
That's true about how fast food here has mostly changed in portion size and in price. That speaks mostly to Americans more than anything else. I blame it on the Midwest. haha
Danny
September 10, 2010 4:20 pm
THE C WORD!!
THE C WORD!!
(also: when will we be adding the Freak of the Week over here?)
Fred
September 3, 2010 4:02 pm
I actually have a different definition for places likes Au Bon Pain or Panera, as they're chain establishments that fall outside the traditional fast food spectrum (of course this definition is up to the individual), but in my mind they're different. My main point of contention within the traditionally branded fast food companies (e.g. Wendy's, KFC, McDonald's, and Burger King) are that they tend to use tried and true formulations that most likely won't offend their core demographic, where as the foreign branches are much more quick to adopt change (see MOS Burger and their seasonal offerings as an example). I guess what I define as improvement might be as simple as variations on the traditional menu, as it seems little has changed since the 50's aside from portion size and pricing.
Don't get me started on the quality of food here vs. internationally. It's one thing to be different, but it's one thing for the US McDonald's to serve a chicken sandwich that ranks as subpar when compared to the Asian market's.
/rant
Nicholas
September 3, 2010 4:18 pm
There's a certain appeal of fast food to not only our nation, but to the human race. Fast food should be a 'treat' like a decadent chocolate cake. It shouldn't be a daily consumption. I also agree with Nicholas that other countries' fast food management is so much more creative with introducing options that adapt to their countrymen's (and women) cultural palate.
FYI, I think KFC is running a special - 2 pieces and a biscuit for $1.99. Not bad, eh?
kim
September 3, 2010 2:16 pm
@Nicholas,
damn my mind is skipping over words. To your point about fast food entities from other countries, I feel like it's something U.S. companies can work to make better. In some ways, we have seen that. Do we consider Au bon pain fast food? Or a Panera bread? They fill a niche for sure and it's way faster than normal casual food. We also seem to separate the McDonald's from the Panera's... but really it's the same thing? So are we saying we don't have good options or do we all just hope McDonald's ups the ante a little? If that happens, would they leave some of their core demographics behind?
@kim,
Agreed, fast food shouldn't be a daily consumption. It's why I split up my consumption of said nuggets over three days. haha. Tuesday and Thursday. I think cultural palates come with the chains... McDonald's does seem to do a good job of addressing that. Even in Hawaii you get options you don't get on the mainland. I might go check out that KFC special...
Danny
September 3, 2010 2:23 pm
While fast food is undeniably American, what's sad is the fact that so many international countries have done such a better job at implementation than we have.
(btw if this gets submitted 3x, it's because your comment box hates me)
Nicholas
September 3, 2010 1:03 pm
@FN,
haha, I strive to please. One does have to keep it real though EMP with dollar nuggets.
@Nicholas,
sorry about that, my comment box hates everyone. Maybe I should learn how to program. haha
Danny
September 3, 2010 1:44 pm
Dude, I love the rubbernecking I'm getting off of your posts. One minute you're eating high-end for 99 bucks and the next it's a dollar menu chicken. Good stuff.
FN
September 3, 2010 12:28 pm