Fast Food Friday: Popeye's Bonafide Big Box is Back, But is it Really that Great of a Deal?

In this semi-regular feature, The Big Lead staff will sample and review delicacies from fast food establishments, ballparks, or anywhere else that triggers thoughts and feelings.

For a variety of reasons, I was a late adopter of Popeye’s. There weren’t any that close to where I grew up in suburban Connecticut, nor by the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The sustained product placement in Little Nicky and universal acclaim among fast foodies, should’ve been enough for me to seek it out, but I never got around to trying it until about a year ago.

Popeye’s is pretty fantastic, and there were a lot of meals in my life where I would have had before it if I’d realized how damn good it is. Like, I really do enjoy establishments such as McDonald’s and Wendy’s for what they are, but their hamburgers obviously aren’t as good as you’ll find at legit restaurants, but we accept the trade-off because they’re cheap and ubiquitous. Popeye’s, on the other hand, is about as good of fried chicken as you’ll find, at least above the Mason Dixon line, without searching far and wide.

The return of the $5 Bonafide Big Box — which is short-lived, and goes away before Memorial Day — was an impetus for me to cover the Louisiana-based chain for this column. The special comes with two pieces of fried chicken, two sides, and a biscuit.

Now, everyone who does not have the same lapse of judgment I had for the first 27 years of my life knows how phenomenal the two-piece-with-a-biscuit meal is. It’s well-charted territory. Chris Rock once remarked that its existence made him wish the Men in Black memory erasers existed IRL because he can’t shake the cravings (it’s “too good”), and presumably wishes to reach old age.

The Bonafide Box isn’t exactly a special adaptation of the classic meal, which, in Chicago, runs you $5.99 and comes with a side and a drink. So, for a dollar less, you get an extra side but lose your soda. This isn’t really the best value beyond what you normally get, especially since the regular meal is already filling enough. Compounding matters, my Popeye’s was out of mac and cheese when I went on Monday night. Given that’s my first choice of side, getting an extra one (I opted for cajun rice and fries) was hardly a consolation.

Nevertheless, the main attraction — two pieces of spicy, white chicken — was as exquisite as always, and both sides were solid enough. While, for reasons heretofore stated, I almost certainly will not be ordering the Bonafide Box again, I’ll still want Popeye’s just about every time I pass by.

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Because, as friend of the program Andy Isaac told me recently, I’m a fat person masquerading as a semi-fat person, I also made it to Wendy’s this week to try their new Jalapeño Fresco Spicy Chicken Sandwich. As a full disclosure, their PR firm saw my review of their Ghost Pepper Fries a few weeks ago, and sent me a $10 gift card to check it out.

So, this sandwich — which consisted of spicy chicken, jalapeños, pepper jack cheese, sauce, and onions — was really good. I don’t want to sound like Stone Cold Steve Austin, who I complained about in my Blogs with Balls Panel for being a huckster shill for the brand earlier this week, but it hit the sweet spot of being hot, but not unrelentingly and therefore uncomfortably so.

The one drawback of it is that the sauce is pretty rich. This is all well and good if the sandwich is a special occasion, but it really felt like it sat in my stomach for a duration that far exceeded the typical fast food trip. I would absolutely eat the sandwich again, but it might be gone from the menu by the time I’ve got a taste for it again.

Also, in the unlikely circumstance that any Wendy’s recipe bigwigs happen to be reading this: Your fries are wayyyyyyyyy too salty. Please address this dire issue.