Kentucky Fried Chicken vs. Mrs. Winner's: Playing Chicken

To spork, or not to spork?  That was not the question for me.  What I wanted to know is who had the better food, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC to most), or Mrs. Winner's Chicken & Biscuits.  This was no small task, after all, there are multiple components:  you have your mashed potatoes and gravy, you have your biscuit, and you have the all important piece of chicken to compare.  I will go ahead and just say up front, they both had their ups and downs, but overall, it was pretty close. 

 

I have not done a nutritional breakdown this time, since the serving sizes are somewhat different, and because I believe that if the serving sizes were very similar, the nutritional info would also be very similar.  When I ordered at each location, I told them each that I wanted a chicken breast, potatoes and gravy, and a biscuit; I was going to drink a Brisk lemonade that I had here at the office with it.  But the lady at KFC threw me a curve by telling me that it would be cheaper to get a combo with a drink, so I sprung for that.  Not wanting to skew the review, I also got a drink at Mrs. Winner's.  I think for this Comparative Review, I will remove price as a criterion, since you can get specials, deals, coupons, etc. for either place fairly routinely.  Let it suffice to say the prices are comparable.

Potatoes & Gravy -  Mmmmm....who doesn't love the wholesome goodness of those delicious potatoes and gravy?  I dug into those first.  I really liked Mrs. Winner's potatoes and gravy the best.  They had a nice, creamy gravy, and they were firmer potatoes.  The KFC potaotes and gravy were not bad either, but they didn't look as good.  They had an earthier potato taste, but my favorite was definitely Mrs. Winner's potatoes and gravy.


Biscuits -  Again, I am giving Mrs. Winner's the edge on the biscuits.  The biscuit was obviously larger, and had a better, buttery flavor.  And again, KFC's offering was good, it just wasn't the best.


The Chicken -  I broke this taste test down into two parts:  the skin, and the meat.  I first noted the appearance of each entrant.  Neither appeared overly greasy, and they had comparable color.  The skin of Mrs. Winner's had some notes of sage seasoning, while the skin of the KFC entry had a more pungent, peppery, maybe some cumin flavorings.   They were both very good.  I would happily eat either one.  If it was one of those deals where someone forced me to decide, I guess I would go with KFC, maybe only because I like spicier, peppery seasonings.  Either one was very good though.  So far as the meat itself, I was not able to discern any meaningful difference in the two offerings.  Neither was offensive, malprepared , or had any important detracting qualities.  The chicken was basically a toss-up, which I found at least mildly disappointing since I wanted to declare a clear winner based on the chicken.

KFC spork vs. Mrs. Winner's fork

To Sum It Up -  This was kind of tough, and certainly not as clear as some of my prior reviews; both KFC and Mrs. W had good chow.  But....the edge goes to Mrs. Winner's based on the amount and quality of the potatoes and the biscuit.  Also, they gave me a real fork.  I always feel like a goober when I use one of those sporks....