Southerners are an opinionated bunch, especially when it comes to our fried chicken. We have family recipes passed down from generation to generation, with perfectly crispy exteriors and juicy, tender interiors.
Fried chicken is a staple dish at the church potluck, on the Sunday dinner table, and shows up, if you're lucky, as a special weeknight treat. So, when it comes to our favorite fast food chains, our standards are high—and often chicken-themed. Dinner-in-a-pinch favorites include North Carolina-based Bojangles, Louisiana-based Popeyes, and, of course, Georgia-based Chick-fil-A.
For the last nine consecutive years, Chick-fil-A has topped the annual USA Today Readers’ Choice Awards for best fast food restaurant in the United States. The Southern chicken chain is well-known and loved for its efficiency, hospitality, and mischievous ‘Eat Mor Chikin’ mascots.
With this year’s list, however, there was a shocking upset: Chick-fil-A dropped down to number three. The new reader-chosen rankings (full list here) still kept a majority of Southern spots in the top ten, including Sandy Springs, Georgia-based Arby’s (#10), Athens, Georgia-based Zaxby’s (#9) and Popeyes (#8).
Nashville, Tennessee-based Captain D’s, with its fried catfish and okra, took the #6 spot on the list and neighbor Franklin, Tennessee-based Hardee’s with its iconic biscuit recipe scored #5. With Chick-fil-A at number three, one Southern fried chicken joint rose to the second spot: Louisville, Kentucky-based Kentucky Fried Chicken. (We suppose it’s hard to beat the Colonel’s Chicken Pot Pie.)
And—in a surprising twist—coming in first place as voted by readers to be the best fast-food chain in America, we have the rapidly growing Mexican-American chain Del Taco. With fresh guacamole and delicious burritos, we can understand why folks voted for this friendly chain (though this writer would be hard-pressed to place it over a couple of Bo Berry Biscuits or a peach milkshake).
Southerners in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Virginia (the states with Del Taco locations) can decide for themselves whether or not the ranking fits. Who's up for a taste-test?