The Adventures of Krystal Kid: Meal 2: Chattanooga Chicken

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Meal 2: Chattanooga Chicken

After a brief retreat to my hotel room I felt up to another assault on the miracle menu at the Krystal on Brainerd Rd. In hindsight I should have waited longer. But I had a full list of the menu items and had planned out my next attack. I was eager to get it on! I decided this meal would be drive through so I could get back to the hotel to catch Take Home Chef. The second meal would also be the meal of chicken!

Left to right we have: Chik'n Stik'ns, Chicken Wings, a Lemon Slushie, and a Grilled Chik. Lets start with the Chik.

My first bite of the Grilled Chik was enough to make me overlook the fact it had mayo on it. There is also another sauce or seasoning on it that gave it a bit of a kick. It was quite amazing. Since I specialize in cooking chicken, I assure you I could come up with some amazing recipes and add ons if we had Grilled Chiks in Macon. The crispy grilled parts had excellent flavor and it was juicy and hot. Simply amazing!

I recall Krystal once had Buffalo Wings in Macon a long time ago, but I honestly don't recall if they had sauce of them or not. These didn't have sauce on them, but the heat was built in. They were good and meaty, too, but that heat sneaks up on you and smacks you in the back of the head when you're not looking. The Ranch dressing on the side helps for sure. Now if only Krystal could get celery and "Karrots" to go with it.
Now for those who have Buffalo connections (Amy and Chris) don't get your hopes up on these. These are the southern version of Buffalo Wings. The same goes for people from Philadelphia who want to complain that the Krystal Philly Toaster isn't a "real" Philly Cheesesteak. If you wanna get all grabby about who "owns" certain foods you can give back Coke, Pepsi, and RC Cola while you're at it. Of course I'll have to fight ya to the death over the Loganberry. Now where was I? Oh yeah.

The Chik'n Stik'ns are a fairly simple idea, based on a sound concept: food on a stick is better than food not on a stick (see also kabobs, corn pups, popsicles, etc). Basically it's a chicken tenderloin on a stick, battered and fried. Very crispy and yummy. You also get a side of dip (I, of course, went with Ranch!).
I did run into a problem though. Picture with me, if you will: long skinny chicken tender, shallow container of sauce. Much like jumping off a high dive into a wading pool, you only get one good shot at it. I wound up pouring the ranch onto the chicken instead of dipping the chicken in the ranch. It was still very good, but I think driving and dipping might not work so well.
Perhaps to make up for the dipping difficulties, you are rewarded with this greeting once you clean your ~~plate~~ stick:

Lastly, the slushie. I went with the Lemon. (there's also grape and cherry.) It is absolutely amazing. Its cold, very sweet and tart and lemony. All of this, of course, makes you start suckin it down as fast as you can. And as you might expect, brain freeze sets in. So I spend my meal freezing my skull with the slushie and defrosting with the powerful hot wings. I hope the repeated freezing and defrosting hasn't caused permanent damage to my brain. Even so, it was worth it.
I passed on a dessert for this meal. With a Milkquake under my belt from earlier, I didn't feel I'd be able to handle a Sundae or a Rock Slide. (I was right, I would later find out).
So completely full and utterly satisfied, I curled up in bed with a book and drifted off to sleep. With visions of chicken and toasters dancing in my head. Krystal Lovers like it steamy.