The Unvegan

EDIT: This spot is closed, but obviously Chick-fil-A and its bigotry against beef continues to thrive.

Other than having hyphenated names, In-N-Out and Chick-fil-A have some other eerie parallels. For a long time, Chick-fil-A kept itself to the south, but has since expanded. In-N-Out, on the other hand, has kept itself to the west and has hardly expanded outside of California. Both still carry an air of mystery, as they are not readily available like McDonald’s or Burger King. They are also pretty religious, with Chick-fil-A closing on Sundays and In-N-Out printing bible quotes on their packaging. And finally, their menus are both incredibly simple. Yet, their simple menus are what makes them such opposites. In-N-Out only has burgers, while Chick-fil-A only has chicken.

I didn’t even realize Chick-fil-A existed in LA until a friend told me about one in the South Bay Galleria Mall in Redondo Beach. One day for lunch, we headed over there so I could see what Chick-fil-A was all about. The menu was quite basic, with only a couple sandwiches. Apparently with their recent expansion, Chick-fil-A has decided to mix things up a bit on their menus and now offer a spicy chicken sandwich in addition to their usual. I decided to try this new one out. Each sandwich was available in two ways, with only a pickle or with a pickle, lettuce and tomato. I went with the simpler one and ordered it without the gnarly pickle. It also came with the choice of many sauces for free. This included sauces like barbecue, the special Chick-fil-A sauce and more. I chose the Chick-fil-A sauce, ranch and honey roasted BBQ so I could try each of them out.

When my name was called, I grabbed my food and joined the table my friends had chosen. Then I whipped out my meal and tried it out. The chicken was only slightly spicy, but the meat itself tasted pretty good. The bun was nice and buttery and went well with the breast of chicken. My waffle fries were actually a little disappointing, with some of them being totally uncrispy and bordering sogginess. They probably would have been a lot better if they were well-done, which is also how I have to order my fries at In-N-Out.

My experience with Chick-fil-A was actually quite underwhelming. The sandwich definitely needed more spice, but I could see how people would really like their regular chicken sandwiches. The waffle fries could use some work, too. I’ll be back because I’m sure I’ll find myself near a Chick-fil-A again, but for now I feel they could have done better.