Fried Chicken Wars, Part II: Publix vs. Charlotte’s favorite gas-station yardbird
ICYMI: Read “Fried Chicken Wars I: Which Charlotte supermarket has the best birds?” here.
Three women, two days, one car. Our assignment: To decide which supermarket deli turned out the best fried chicken. And then take it to the limit, with a taste-off between the winner and a Charlotte fan favorite.
While we were planning our story on the fried chicken sold at Publix, Harris Teeter, Food Lion and Walmart, we couldn’t help wondering how the ultimate winner would hold up against Charlotte’s cult favorite, the fried chicken served at two Quik Shoppe Shell stations, at Eastway Drive and at the busy intersection of South and East boulevards near uptown Charlotte.
While I’ve had my share of the well-known Quik Shoppe Shell chicken, my partners in this story, Sallie Funderburk of CharlotteFive and photographer Khadejeh Nikouyeh, had never experienced it.
We agreed it was time for a throwdown: The winner of our supermarket samples vs. Shell Quik Shoppe No. 3.
There had been no contest in the first round. Publix won easily, with the best combination of crunchy crust; juicy, well-salted meat; large pieces; and the potential for serving it cold at a picnic.
Publix, $7.99 for an eight-piece box.
1. Crispiness/crunchiness: 10. Craggy and bumpy enough to shed lots of crumbs, the crust on this one wins every time.
2. Spiciness/seasoning: 9.5. The meat under the crust was definitely salty, with plenty of flavor. This wassn’t one of those chickens where you just want to eat the crust and stop.
3. Juiciness: 10. There was plenty of moisture under that skin, even on the white-meat pieces.
4. Size of pieces: 10. The largest of every sample we tried in these tests. A breast held up next to an open hand stretched from our wrists to beyond our fingers — and easily would have served a couple of people. The other pieces were also large and meaty.
5. Potential to serve cold: 10. With a crunchy crust and well-flavored, juicy meat, this would still be good chilled.
6. Greasiness: 9. Using our paper-napkin test, it definitely had grease. All that juiciness comes from somewhere.
Score: 58.5.
Quik Shoppe Shell: $13.99 for an eight-piece box with rolls. (Available in spicy and regular; we evaluated regular.)
1. Crispiness/crunchiness: 8.5. The crust was thinner, but that also made it beautifully crisp.
2. Spiciness/seasoning: 10. There was definitely flavor here. Even though the store has claimed there is no seasoning, just fresh chicken fried well, something about this crust had the savory meatiness of seasoned salt.
3. Juiciness: 10. The chicken underneath the crust was moist. No dry-chicken issues here.
4. Size of pieces: 9. The pieces were generous with lots of meat, but not quite as big as the Publix pieces.
5. Potential to serve cold: 10. With the flavorful crust and the moist meat, this would hold up great for a picnic.
6. Greasiness: 10. It passed the napkin test with plenty of flavorful fat.
Score: 57.5.
The winner, by a single point: Publix. But we also agreed to a personal split decision. Funderburk preferred the great crust of the Publix version, Purvis went with the flavor of the Shell station’s. Either way, there’s no bad decision here.
That’s it, Charlotte: Go forth into picnic season. And spread your wings.
This story first ran at CharlotteObserver.com.
This story was originally published April 1, 2018 at 10:00 PM with the headline "Fried Chicken Wars, Part II: Publix vs. Charlotte’s favorite gas-station yardbird."