Fast Food Heaven

N.B. --  This is a companion piece to "Fast Food Hell."  Here at Eat at Joe's!, we're all about Fair and Balanced.  And it only took me three years to write this.  :)

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Breakfast all the time.  French fries that, at their best, are individually puffy and airy, like pommes soufflées.  Fried chicken so good that I don't care if it gives me the runs.  And biscuits!  Lots of good biscuits, with stuff on them!  Chicken, sausage gravy, butter, country ham...  No, we're not at Grandma's house.  We're at Bojangles' * Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits *.  Bo's, where no biscuit is supposed to be over 20 minutes old, and probably isn't.  Bo's, where they usually get my food right, as opposed to every other frickin' fast food place I've ever been.  Bo's, where the people behind the counter are usually nice, at least to me. 

How do they do it? Maybe it's because I look like Frankenstein's monster and scare them into good service.  Actually, I have no idea.  But I have some clues:

1. Fried Chicken.  Here's where a fast food place or restaurant has an advantage: a big deep fryer, thermostatically controlled, and possibly even pressurized.  You can deep fry at home, but how fast will your fryer come back to temperature?  How stable is that temperature?  Technology helps.  And while almost any restaurant or fast food place has a deep fryer, most of them don't do fried chicken (local exceptions: Church's and Hardee's). 
   
   I once went to a steak place managed by a friend of mine.  My friend laughed at me because, instead of ordering steak, I ordered the fried chicken.  I looked at him and said, "Which one is harder to do at home: steak or fried chicken?" He nodded and agreed with me.  Besides, it was really good, and the cheapest thing on the menu, even though it was three (3) thighs plus accoutrements. 
   


2. Biscuits.  Anyone can nuke some nasty bread, or thaw out some frozen biscuits.  Bojangles' makes their own biscuits, and they're good.  Again, a few other places (Biscuitville for one) do this too, but IMO, Bojangles' are the best. 


3. Tea.  C'mon, people: we're in the South here, ok?  Pipe the tea out with a firehose.  And when I say "tea," you know what I mean: fresh, sweetened, iced tea.  Some other places use instant tea.  Jesus, people, it's really cheap to make tea.  This is a bad place to try to jack up your profit margin: you're spending so little money on it to start with that you're not going to save squat, while putting out a much worse product.   


4. Breakfast.  This is where a lot of places fall down.  But not only are the breakfast items at Bo's superior to other fast food joints, they're also available all the time.  You want a steak biscuit at 6 pm?  No problem: go see Bo.  Some other fast food places don't bother with breakfast, which I don't get.  For instance, my other favorite fast food place is Arby's.  But Arby's doesn't do breakfast.  WTF?  A day without breakfast is like a day without sunshine, or coffee, or MD-20/20 .


5. Good, cheap, quick.  That's what all fast food places are supposed to be.  Unfortunately, most places skip the first one.  Bo seems to get it right on all three.  And it's so much better than the places that consider themselves one tier up, like Fuddruckers (warning: Fuddruckers's WWW site is even more annoying than Hardee's). 

But it's not all heaven out there.  I'm sure some of you have had the occasional bad experience from Bo.  Well, it's a chain, paying people minimum wage, hiring people who can't get a job elsewhere, and whose employees sometimes can't even speak English.  Yes, they're going to screw up.  But I maintain that I've had fewer sucky experiences at Bo's than any other fast food place.  And I've really had some doozies.  But besides that:

1. They're a chain.  Well, duh.  There are lots of good reasons not to eat at a fast food restaurant.  So if you'd like to swear them off, you'll get no static from me. 


2. Health.  The selection at Bo's is a little short on green vegetables.  In fact, they don't have any at all (supposedly some serve green beans, but I've never seen that).  The closest thing to a green vegetable I've seen at Bo's is the vinegar-based slaw, which I don't like anyway, and the "Cajun Pintos."  (This is one of the few reasons I go to Church's on occasion, because they have things that actually approximate vegetables.)  Plus, almost everything is fried.  No, it's not health food.

So if you don't want to eat at Bo's, or don't do fast food at all, or don't like fried chicken, &c., I understand.  But otherwise, you might want to give Bojangles' a shot sometime. 

Ok, let's say you have something against Bo.  What are your options? 

1. KFC.  Kentucky Fried Chicken makes me gag.  But if you like it, knock yourself out.  You should be able to find one without too much trouble, since they purportedly have over 11,000 locations.  Yuuum. 


2. Church's.  Again, no argument from me.  Their biscuits, while being a little odd, are still really good.  And they have corn on the cob, and slaw that's more like what I think slaw should be.  But their chicken seems slightly drier and less flavorful than Bo's.  Still, they're an acceptable alternative. 


3. Honey's.   A local full-service restaurant, Honey's is open 24/7, and has fried chicken, but it takes a while.  And while they do wait on you as in a full-service restaurant, the ambience is about like the average Bo's location.  However, as anyone who's driven along I-85 through Durham knows, Honey's has Wi-Fi!  :) 
   
   I imagine there are plenty of other places in Durham that have fried chicken, like the Current Cafeteria on Roxboro Road.  Since I don't fry chicken well, I say wherever you can satisfy the urge, go for it. 

What's in the future for Bo?  They've had their ups and downs as a company.  The most recent change is that the entire chain, based in Charlotte, NC, was purchased last year by Falfurrias Capital Partners.  Falfurrias has owned Bo for about six months now, and the stores haven't gone downhill AFAICT, so that's probably good news.  Bo has even expanded overseas, although he's only in 11 states so far, mostly along the Eastern Seaboard and Southern US.  And while you can't mail-order Bo's chicken, you can have them deliver that addictive seasoning salt (click "Lifestyle", then "Bojangles Famous French Fry Seasoning") they use on their fries.  Yum -- for real. 

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P.S.:  I know that "cajun" moniker they use is all fake.  I don't care.  I just like the food.

About the title of this post:  In Durham, the term "Fast Food Heaven" is applied to a strip of Hillsborough Road near 15-501.  While that strip seems to have fallen on hard times lately, with the loss of a McDonalds and various other places, Bo is still there. 

Comments

[Allen]

It is indeed fast food heaven. They built the new Mickey D's near the cookout. I've been wanting the Miami Subs to become a Zaxby's for a really long time. It's the one fast food joint I've missed from Georgia. They have one in Raleigh (on Hillsborough St.) and I've been known to make the 20-25 mile trek to eat some of their chicken. They, in my opinion, have the best fried chicken. It's not as cheap (even if you can get a meal for 5 bucks) but it's good enough for the drive.

[Lenore]

Bo's is awesome. :) Their coffee (at least at the one in Hillsborough) is beyond terrible, but everyone should be drinking tea anyway.

[Eric J]

I really wish Boj would open a store in Northern VA. It's probably a good thing they don't have one, though. I think the sweet-potato pies deserve a mention. And the availability of Sweet Tea to go in 1-gallon jugs.

Have you been to the Five Guys at Southpoint? They orginiated up here and have great burgers and fries.

[Joe]

Allen: That whole strip over there seems to have been in continuous ferment for the past several years -- maybe even since the Dunkin Donuts closed. Even Cattlemen's -- god help them -- closed, then re-opened on the other side of the street. I didn't know about the new McD's replacing the old one. Didn't Burger King over there close too? I haven't been over there recently, at least not west of 15-501.

Lenore: The coffee everywhere sucks. :) 20 years ago, McDonald's had good coffee, believe it or not. Now theirs sucks too, which I guess gives them room to launch their new line of foo-foo coffee drinks at higher prices.

Eric: Geez -- I've never had the sweet potato pie. I'll have to give that a try sometime. And I haven't been to Five Guys: haven't even been to Southpoint in like a year or two. Place gives me the creeps. :)

[georg]

Cattlemen's (with or without any help from god) is now in the old BK Lounge, next door to Waffle House. The new McD's is across the street from Bo's. The Miami Subs remains closed and empty, w/ no sign of any new activity. There's also Wendy's, KFC/Taco Hell, and (as previously mentioned) Cook Out. Oh yeah, and Chik Fil A and Arby's back on the other sided of 15-501, near the Kroger.

[Joe Eater]

Georg: Thanks. I find it amusing that Bojangles' persists in doing well (I guess) right across from KFC. :) I guess the other way to look at it is that KFC does well right next to Bo, but then KFC closed at least one outlet in town recently (the one near I-85 on Roxboro Road).

[Phil]

Good reasoning on the "which one can you make at home" question. Bonus because it's cheaper. And hell yeah on the thighs. Used to be, whenever I was at a roast beef carvery, I'd ask for their most rare parts, plus some crispy fat parts. The carvers would almost always smile like they knew just where I was coming from. Then I'd ask them, "when you eat chicken, light meat or dark meat?" And they'd always, always, always says "dark meat."

I used to eat a lot of Hardee's fried chicken and some of their biscuits. I like their barbecue sauce on the chicken and on the biscuits (especially since I'd usually remove ~2/3 of the skin in a small concession to reducing my fat intake.)

When I'd occasionally eat Hardee's for breakfast, I'd ask for two egg biscuits, with un "buttered" biscuits. Other times, I might ask for the cinnamon buns.

When I had an office on Rosemary St. in Chapel Hill, I used to stop by the Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen in the mini-building at the foot of Franklin St. Hill. In my memory, the biscuits were very soft and fluffy, and every breakfast biscuit "sandwich" came with a heap of sauteed onions unless you specifically asked that they skip them. Mmmm... Would love some of that right now. The biscuits, I mean.

[stew]

Bonus: the flour that Boj uses is local to NC! And of that flour, most of it is actually grown in NC!

(The green beans aren't that bad, actually)

[Joe Eater]

Stew: You've seen a Bo's that has green beans? Where?

[BryanZ]

The fries at Bojangles really are like pommes souffles, it's almost uncanny. I'm glad I'm not the only one who picked this up. Love that place.

[Britt]

You have obviously not had the biscuits at Wimpy's Grill. They are the best biscuits I have ever had, and I've had all the other "fast food" place biscuits, the biscuits at Wimpy's are simply perfect. They are big, fluffy, fresh and flavorful. I can't speak to their chicken, I usually just get the burgers, or their sausage biscuit which is the best sausage biscuit there has ever been.

[Joe Eater]

Bryan: I wonder how they get them that way? It's more than just some double-frying thing. Maybe they soak them in water so they steam and plump up, or deep-fry them under vacuum.

Britt: A lot of people like Wimpy's. I used to work down the street from there, but I haven't had anything from there in a long time. I should try it again.

[Celeste]

I have to say that I prefer Bojangles, breakfast- and biscuit-wise. If I were much of a fried chicken person, I might go to Bojangles more frequently. I used to prefer Popeye's up in Maryland - I don't think there is one of those around here. It was one of the only places I could get decent sweet tea in the entire state.

It really sucks, at times, to live very close to this section of Hillsborough Rd. Cook Out shakes are way too easy to obtain.

[Joe Eater]

Phil: You're not feeling homesick, are you? :)

Celeste: I only went to a Popeye's once, maybe 12-14 years ago. I didn't like it, but maybe that was an outlier. And I think I just figured out why there are no Popeye's around here: According to Church's WWW site, they bought Popeye's a while back, although the chains are still distinct. So they probably wouldn't open one type store where they already have a presence with the other.

[Jerry Harris]

Great fried chicken can be found at the Golden Spoon and the Silver
Spoon restaurants. If you haven't tried these restaurants for breakfast
you are missing a full on treat. Local owned and operated. Good prices
and real friendly service.

[Joe Eater]

Jerry: Thanks. I moved your comment here from the Fifteen501 post, where I assume it wound up accidentally.

[john!]

@Jerry --
I'm so incredibly down the Golden Spoon and their 5-egg omelettes , but I've never heard of the Silver Spoon. Same owners? Where is it?

[Matt]

Bojangles FTW!

Bojangles "staples" are great everywhere... but there's more regional variation than you might expect. Around Thanksgiving, stores around Charlotte offer fried turkey. Some places have HIGH CRACK CONTENT Bo-Berry Biscuits for breakfast; some don't.

(Church's and Popeye's make good alternatives... did you know there's a Popeye's at the Hong Kong airport? It's right next to the Burger King, behind a couple of ramen places.)

KFC is huge overseas, and is just as crappy on the other side of the world as it is here; in some places, during the height of the avian flu scare, they became (in fact if not in name) KFF instead. Now you know. Consider yourselves smartened!

Other good chicken I've had:
I love chickenjoy, but you can't get it around here. Likewise El Pollo Loco - but I see they're in Atlanta now!

[durhamfood]

I'll concur on this one - Bo's is by far the best fast-food fried chicken around.

Talking of good fries - that weird little shack between Sirens and 9th St has great fries, weirdly enough.

As for fried chicken at home: Varmint's recipe from a while back got me going on this one again. It turned out really well, probably in part due to the candy thermometer I kept checking the oil with...

[Joe Eater]

I still suck at frying chicken, thermometer or no. I usually burn it on the outside before it's done on the inside. I did an ok job last time, though, so maybe I'm getting better. I used lard for the fat and seafood breader to bread it because I wanted to see how it came out.

[Matt]

Most people do try to cook the chicken too hot, with exactly the results you describe, Joe. I've only recently learned to do it right (pretty consistently). Still: all the more reason to visit Bo!

[Joe Eater]

Matt: It looks like Jollibee is expanding into the US -- California and Nevada -- which should at least mean that you don't need a passport to get to one of their stores. ;)

[phoebe]

there is a popeye's: at RDU. And shrimp boat has some pretty fine fried chicken.

I myself am a biscuitville fan.

[Joe Eater]

Phoebe: Maybe Popeye's has a concession for the 51st state: all the airports of the world. They're all connected, right? :)

Shrimp Boat must be doing something right, as they've been over there for a really long time. But I confess I've never tried the place. I have a theory that most seafood places can put out some pretty mean fried chicken. Fishmonger's doesn't, but Bernard, who cooks there, can make some really good fried chicken for himself back there in that walk-in-closet of a kitchen.

I don't have a problem with Biscuitville; in fact, I've gone back and forth on which one I like more. But for the past several years, I've liked Bo's more. It used to be that Biscuitville had apple juice, which was a draw for me, as Bo only had orange. But now Bioscuitville doesn't carry apple juice anymore. :(

[george kaplan]

Even though I've gotten more curdled milk from Bo's than any other store, and even though I don't so much like their chicken (and I *love* fried chicken), and even though I've gotten old, hard biscuits from time to time, nothing beats a fresh chicken or sausage biscuit from Bojangle's.

I've had some wonderful food experiences in my life, but one of the top was the day that I'd just gotten my appetite back after the flu and stopped off for a chicken biscuit on the way to my parents'. I just had to sit in the parking lot until my vision came back. I've tried to tell an allstar server friend about Bo's but she remains unconvinced.

Avoid the RDU airport Bo's.

When I was younger and in TN, I used to love Mrs. Winners but Bo's is better. Let's hear it for the tea-flavored Kool-Aid.

As far as fried chicken goes, I'm from the cast-iron skillet school - let some of that moisture escape. But it *is* hard keeping the temp steady.

[Joe Eater]

Celeste -- I just noticed there are a few Popeye's in N.C., including one in Raleigh. Probably still too far away to make it worthwhile... http://direct.where2getit.com/cwc/apps/w2gi.php?client=popeyes&template=locator_city&state=NC&submit.x=50&submit.y=11