Popeye’s new chicken sandwich, which generated so much buzz on the mainland that Popeye’s ran out of chicken for a while. It’s finally available in Hawaii.
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My first bites of the famous spicy chicken sandwich from Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen didn’t change my life, but neither were they disappointing.
According to my palate, it was by far the best of the four fast-food chicken sandies we taste-tested on Monday. That’s because I like spicy food — especially when the spices are not so overbearing that they cancel out the food’s other attributes.
That’s what Lori Woo, vice president of Popeyes in Hawaii, says makes these sandwiches so special: balance. And they were so special that last August they broke the internet before they could broke da mout’ in Hawaii.
They went so fast, they never made it here. Until now.
We’re used to waiting for good stuff — or stuff we’re told is good and turns out to be mediocre, or garbage (ramen burger, anyone?).
So are we talking substance or just hype?
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Let’s put it this way: I’ll gladly buy this sandwich in the future with my own money.
But probably not this Sunday when it rolls out and lines could be ridiculously long from 0-dark-30, Black Friday style.
Iris Stanback is a manager at the Popeyes in Kapahulu, one of six Oahu locations.
“We don’t really know what to expect, but we’re all going through a lot of training,” says the four-year employee who was born and raised in the Punchbowl area. “We will do our best to keep up with the demand. We want everyone to get their sandwich as fast as possible. We’re hoping for the best and No. 1 is always customer service.”
Full staff for the Kapahulu restaurant is normally six to eight employees. Those numbers will be beefed up substantially on Sunday, Stanback says.
“We know it will be very busy, especially because of all the hype on social media,” she says.
WHAT MAKES a sandwich so good that a customer in Maryland stabbed another to death while in line last week? What makes a sandwich so good that Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson said eating them is what made his owee all better just one week after being kicked in the eyeball and fearing it might be rolling around on the field?
“His eye was terrible,” says Jennifer Castillo-Passmore, whose son was Watson’s youth basketball teammate, so Watson spent plenty of time at her house in Gainesville, Ga. Castillo-Passmore, who is from Hawaii, is that rare person who has eaten the grand slam of Popeyes, Chick-fil-A, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Jollibee sandwiches.
“I’m a Chick-fil-A fan due to the service. They are known for that,” she said.
Castillo-Passmore puts the Popeyes’ sandwich second, followed by Jollibee’s and KFC’s. “KFC is good, but like Jollibee, it’s too salty.”
“As for McChicken,” she says, of another contender, “I was working at McDonald’s (while attending University High School) when it was first introduced and no longer eat it.”
Woo says it took Popeyes’ culinary team 18 months to come up with the recipe for the sandwich that has gone viral twice now.
The secret?
“Keeping it simple,” says Woo, who then immediately describes something that doesn’t seem so simple. “We start off with the fillet (all white, moist, breast meat). Then the brioche bun; we butter it how we butter our biscuits, with a lot of care (meaning not too much, not too little). Then we top it off with pickles. The pickles contrast with the sweetness of the brioche bread.”
The crispiness of the chicken’s buttermilk coating is yet another layer of texture and flavor that complements but stays in its lane.
Of course what really makes the difference is the mysterious blend of Cajun flavor enhancers … the equivalent of the Colonel’s 11 secret herbs and spices. You can guess, you can ask, but they ain’t gonna divulge.
When I ask Woo and publicist Josh Shon how many sandwiches will be available for sale Sunday, and if they anticipate chaos, Woo answers without really answering.
“Our team’s really excited about this and we’re trying to make sure all of the fans who want to get a chicken sandwich can get one,” she says. “We’re thinking the lines might be a little longer than expected so we’re going to do our very best. Our team has been training very hard and they’re really excited to try to make sure everybody gets to try it.”
If lines start to develop in the middle of the night — like for day-after- Thanksgiving sales — Woo is counting on aloha spirit. “In Hawaii … when we talk about Black Friday, people are spending time with their family and friends, enjoying the time together (in line).”
She’s betting on that mindset holding as customers wait Sunday, “hopefully patiently, in anticipation of the chicken sandwich.”
Adds Shon: “Potentially a lot of people (will be) waiting in line who want to get a sandwich. We thank people ahead of time for their patience. We want to make sure everyone has a good time and gets their sandwich.”
Popeyes in Hawaii is a dichotomy; a national brand name, but a family operation. Woo’s parents, Kal and Sue Uezu, own the company, and her brother, Sean, is president. Woo says all 250 employees are considered family, and she or her brother check in on each store nearly daily.
Kal Uezu was a chicken farmer in Nanakuli 40 years ago. He visited New Orleans.
“He had his first taste of famous Cajun chicken and he knew that flavor would be such a great thing on the island that he had to bring it back,” Lori Woo says. “There’s so much of that Cajun hospitality, those Cajun flavors, and it really is close to what Hawaii brings with the aloha spirit and kind of ties it all together. I feel like we’re kind of an extension of that in a different way.”
Stanback, the Kapahulu store manager, feels the connection, too.
“Yes, we love our spicy food, too, our chili pepper water. I’m excited to try the sandwich myself. We hope everyone will be patient with us, and come and try the sandwich when they can.”
POPEYES LOUISIANA KITCHEN
All locations open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. (except as noted)
>> Kalihi: 1515 Dillingham Blvd.; opens at 9 a.m.
>> Kapahulu: 645 Kapahulu Ave.
>> Waipahu: 94-050 Farrington Highway
>> Mililani: 95-124 Meheula Parkway
>> Pearl City: 370 Kamehameha Highway
>> Navy Exchange Mall at Pearl Harbor: 4275 Radford Drive; closes at 8 p.m.
