Desperate times – and what are the Fried Chicken Sandwich Wars of 2019 if not a time of desperation? – call for desperate measures. And so, for the first time in the storied history of Food Fight, we are not pitting two competitors against each other. This time, the ring makes room for a battle royale. 

The Weigh-In

Some survived the current drought and some didn’t. Jennifer Biggs managed to navigate the chicken-wars wasteland and get her hands on two of the last Popeye’s chicken sandwiches in the city. Earlier this week, she cast her judgment on the fast-food question that has gripped the nation. 

Charged with a different but related duty, I still tried to participate in this frenzy. Alas, I came up short on two attempts at striking Popeye’s gold. 

That’s fine. Take your time re-upping the sandwiches, Popeye’s. Keep your long (but remarkably efficient) drive-thru lanes, Chick-fil-A. Keep trying to make this a three-way fight, Wendy’s.

In Memphis, we don’t need the likes of you. We have our own chicken sandwiches to fill the emptiness in our hearts (and stomachs). 

The Venues

After seeking nominations on social media, I considered six candidates here. The contenders:

• The N’awlins at Bayou Bar & Grill ($10.50 with fries)
• Loflin’s Hot Chicken at Loflin Yard ($9.75 with chips; $2 for a french fries upgrade)
• Homeroom Chicken and Grids at Lunchbox EATS ($8, an extra $2.50 for a small side of fries)
• Buffalo Chicken Sandwich at South of Beale ($13 with fries)
• The Dirty Bird at Sweet Grass Next Door ($14 with fries)
• The Hot Chicken Sandwich at Hattie B’s ($9 with fries)

This ended up, unintentionally, split between three Downtown and three Midtown contenders.

Downtown, South of Beale (361 S. Main St.) was perhaps Memphis’ first “gastropub,” combining quasi-upscale food in a quasi-casual setting along South Main. Loflin Yard (7 W. Carolina Ave.) is part restaurant, part venue, all hangout spot at the southern edge of the South Main district. And Lunchbox Eats (288 S. Fourth St.) is a novel restaurant kitty-corner from FedExForum with a school-room theme and creative menu. (And great tunes.)

In Midtown, Bayou Bar & Grill (2094 Madison Ave.) has become a stalwart landing spot amid Overton Square change, even as it’s moved across Madison amid these changes. Sweet Grass Next Door (937 Cooper St.) is the neighborhood bar corollary to the fine-dining Sweet Grass in Cooper-Young. And Hattie B’s (596 Cooper St.), about halfway between the other two, is the recently opened Memphis location of the popular, family-owned Nashville “hot chicken” franchise. 

Is Hattie B’s a cheat here? It’s a chain, but not a national chain. It’s edging toward fast food, but not quite all the way there. Perhaps it inhabits a kind of border territory between the rest of the Memphis restaurants here and the Chick-Fil-A/Popeye’s/Wendy’s fast-food chains Jennifer wrote about earlier in the week. But since she chose not to include Hattie B’s there and multiple respondents suggested them, I decided to include them here. 

Round 1 – Chicken and spice

Of the six, Next Door had the biggest piece of chicken with the best crust. Hattie B’s sandwich also came with an opulent, well-fried chicken breast, but may have been slightly overbrined, the chicken itself juicy but a bit too salty.

The crust at Lunchbox Eats was softer, akin to the waffles that served as a bun (more on this in a bit). Not enough contrast. The Loflin Yard bird was the least heavily breaded and also the darkest; it had an almost burnished (not burned) quality. 

Three of the six were heavily sauced: South of Beale with a sharp Buffalo sauce. Bayou with a Zydeco sauce that was just a little too sweet for me. Next Door with a “wing sauce” that was better balanced. All of these added nice but not overwhelming heat. 

Lunchbox Eats had a light sauce that didn’t make much of an impact. Loflin and Hattie’s infused their spice in the batter, more akin to the spicy versions of the fast-food sandwiches and more to my personal liking. At Hattie B’s, I ordered “mild,” which was my error. I know from experience that “medium” is the right level there. (Anything more strays into “hot chicken” gimmick territory.) Hattie B’s is the only option that allows you to adjust your heat level. 

Round 2 – Toppings and extras

Do you want bacon or cheese on your fried chicken sandwich, or is that overkill? 

I think bacon is probably overkill. But Bayou and Next Door add bacon, with Next Door a clear winner on that front. 

Bayou, Next Door and Loflin Yard all use cheddar cheese, with no meaningful difference. South of Beale uses American, which I appreciate on a burger, but prefer the cheddar in this context. Lunchbox Eats uses muenster, which makes for a nice change. Hattie B’s was the only sandwich sans cheese, and I didn’t miss it. 

South of Beale and Bayou both use chopped iceberg lettuce, Next Door romaine (or maybe it was green leaf), and Loflin a leaf of Bibb lettuce, which worked best in sandwich form. Of the three to use tomato (Next Door, Loflin, South of Beale), Next Door stood out with two big, beautiful, ripe tomato slices that might have made a meal all their own. (Consider the season.)

Loflin, South of Beale, Lunchbox Eats and Hattie B’s include pickles, with Loflin and Hattie B’s the best. Lunchbox also offers a green tomato relish on the side; delicious by itself but doubling down on the sweetness of the waffles. 

But the quiet key to a good fried chicken sandwich might be a hint of creaminess, and I don’t mean from cheese. None of these sandwiches use mayo. South of Beale, fitting its Buffalo wing flavor pattern, adds a bleu cheese sauce, strong flavor on top of strong flavor. A lot of Loflin’s spice comes from a chili aioli. Hattie B’s has a spicy/creamy comeback sauce on bottom and a dollop of coleslaw on top. Coleslaw on a hot chicken sandwich? A good idea. 

Lunchbox offers honey dijon mustard on the side, but that doesn’t quite check the box, and the N’awlins at Bayou really misses a creamy contrast with its Zydeco sauce. The big winner here is Next Door. Their house-made ranch dressing is served on the side and has to be the apex of the form. This pleasingly mild, deeply but subtly flavorful sauce is the ranch dressing for people who don’t think they like ranch dressing. (Raises hand.) 

(Bonus content on fries: Standard-issue crinkle cut at Hattie B’s and seasoned fries at Bayou. Nothing special but no complaints. Good thin but not really crisp fries at South of Beale. Fresh, hand-cut and terrific at Lunchbox Eats. The thick, breaded fries at Next Door are like gas-station gourmet, like one of those Texaco potato logs went to heaven. I mean this as a major compliment. I stuck with the chips at Loflin. Zapp's Voodoo chips? Yes, please.)

Round 3 – Buns and structural integrity

If it seems like Next Door is running away with this, here’s the problem. The top bun on my order was a little stiff, but really nothing was going to be able to handle the spread of ingredients in this theoretical sandwich. It was served open-faced, and I ended up mostly eating it that way. A knife-and-fork sandwich.

Bayou had a different kind of architectural problem. It was fine at first, but the heavy Zydeco sauce demolished the bottom bun before I could finish off the sandwich.

As for Lunchbox, I’m not a fan of chicken-and-waffles in traditional form and less so in sandwich form. If you feel differently, adjust accordingly.

The toasted sesame bun at South of Beale worked. You can eat this as a sandwich, just beware of spilling Buffalo sauce or bleu cheese on yourself.

The easiest of the six to eat were Loflin Yard and Hattie B’s, both served on lightly toasted brioche-style buns that are soft but sturdy. 

The Verdict

I’m reluctant to say that the chicken sandwich at Lunchbox Eats wasn’t for me. (The fresh fries and B.B. King soundtrack were, though.)

Bayou and South of Beale offer variations I’d be happy to eat again, but were, respectively, a little too sweet and a little too tart to fit my ideal. 

So, if you want a fried chicken sandwich you can hold in your hands (and then shove into your mouth) without waiting in a drive-thru line, Loflin Yard and Hattie B’s are the picks here. But in terms of quality of ingredients and flavors, Sweet Grass Next Door’s Dirty Bird is the last sandwich standing. It’s worth the (slight) extra cost and (meaningful) extra effort. 

If you want to recommend other culinary contests in need of adjudication, suggest them in the comments or email Chris Herrington at cherrington@dailymemphian.com.