KFC’s grilled chicken got written up in my nutrition newsletter has the healthiest fast food chicken. Just FYI.
Hoping not to disrupt the thread with this sidetrack, but if you look (looked) carefully at the scenes shot in Fort Knox in Goldfinger (1964) you can see one of the earliest stand-alone KFC joints. Not too long before that KFC was just a franchised product served at local restaurants. I remember the first one in Nashville but I have forgotten the name of the place where it was served as a marquee item.
Popeyes, hands down. You know how folks say “everything tastes like chicken”? I do believe that they’re referring to church’s. Just bland as all get out.
Not to hijack the thread (or at least, not too much), is there a fast food chain that makes terrible fried chicken but you strangely like it? Perhaps even addicted to? See, we’ve got a local chain restaraunt called Boat n’ Net. They do burgers, fried fish, and fried chicken. The general consensus all over town is that the chicken in particular is pretty bad. Terribly unhealthy. I swear, a quarter of the overall weight is grease. And yet I don’t know anybody that doesn’t agree is a big guilty pleasure.
Anybody else experience this odd phenomenon?
Popeye’s spicy is the best chicken, and their biscuits are great! They don’t need to be buttered because they contain a buttery flavored substance all through. And the beans and rice side dish is excellent.
I used to like Kentucky Fried Chicken original recipe, but for many years the so-called original tastes nothing like it used to, now very bland. And the Extra Crispy never had anything great in the flavor department. KFC does have the most tasty coleslaw of any chicken place.
I really dislike the blandness of Churches. It looks like fried chicken but maybe because the pieces are too big, tastes blah. A lot of people from my job eat it on Tuesdays when they have a special for real cheap.
In St. Louis MO there’s a chain called Lee’s that has some pretty good chicken. They also sell broccoli pasta salad and baked beans as some of the available side dishes.
In San Antonio, you spell “Boat 'n Net”, Bill Miller. 
Flavorless fried chicken, yet bizarrely addictive for all the salt you need to put on it to make it palatable. 
There are still Roy Rogers restaurants somewhere?? I thought they had folded years ago. Used to really like their roast beef sandwiches.
(I picked Popeyes…best fast food fried chicken in our area, IMHO)
-XT
hmm You know, I don’t think I’ve had chicken from Bill Miller. I’ve had turkey, and brisket of course. Think I’ll give a try tomorrow then. For science, of course. 
Long Shoals road? Does that sound right? It is near 26… there has been a lot of development in that area in the last couple of years.
My father and I were driving through Maryland several years ago and it was lunchtime. He spotted a stand-alone Roy Rogers and insisted we eat there.
It wasn’t bad, and I can see how the variety of choices could appeal to a family. That said, most of the Roy Rogers I’ve seen since (and all of the ones I’ve eaten at) were in rest stops on toll roads like the PA Turnpike and the NY Thruway.
Since when did Albuquerque have a Popeyes? I remember KFC and Church’s, as well as Grandy’s, which was my favorite of the three. And if Roy Rogers counts for this poll, Grandy’s should as well. It’s in just as many states and has more locations.
As a side note, I also love me some Zaxby’s, which is located primarily in the Southeast and Texas. They do chicken fingers, to order, and they’re absolutely delicious.
Of the truly NATIONAL chains in the poll, I’d say KFC, if only because I’m not as familiar with Popeye’s. Many have pointed out that Roy Rogers is a (very small) regional. Bojangles is also regional - pretty much southeast US only (though they have made it as far north as Pennsylvania. Chik-fil-A is ALMOST national (at 39 states), but I don’t think I can count a restaurant where I can’t get a drumstick. 
Oops! I meant Pulaski and Lawrence.
KFC and Popeyes are the only two I’ve had from that list, and Popeyes wins by a looong shot. Popeyes has a lot more delicious cajuny goodness, and their potatoes and gravy are much more flavorful with a thicker texture–KFC’s taters are pretty much half milk, and the gravy sucks. Plus Popeyes dips their biscuits in frying oil or a pot of butter or something. yummmm
We need a poll from people who’ve had both KFC and Popeyes. I bet Popeyes wins 80/20 in that one!
Not that I’m any oracle of Kentucky Fried Chicken knowledge, but I’ve never heard this before. I just looked up Col. Sanders history on the KFC website and it seems to support what you’re saying —
Yet this is included immediately thereafter:
Would a “franchise unit” be a restaurant licensed to sell the product, but not be a stand-alone Kentucky Fried Chicken?
Anyway, I’ll just throw in that I’ve:
• Been to the Corbin, Ky., location of the first KFC
• Eaten numerous times at Claudia Sanders Dinnerhouse in Shelbyville, Ky., named for the Colonel’s wife.
• Met the colonel in person at the state fair
• Seen his grave Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.
• Met and talked to former Gov. John Y. Brown, who bought and owned the company, several times
Gee I’m practically famous myself! I’ll take that Popeye chicken any day, though.
I heartily agree…and I like the Louisiana cuisine theme of the rest of their offerings, too. Jambalaya, catfish, red beans and rice…love that stuff!
As a kid growing up in Atlanta, I remember when Davis Brothers Cafeteria started serving Kentucky Fried Chicken long before I ever saw a free-standing KFC.
Popeye’s still beats it by a long chalk!
As I have said above, I prefer Popeye’s also. The homage to KFC is more for the history value of fried chicken places and how much is owed to the Colonel for the idea.
The “franchise unit” idea I was trying to describe (in Nashville anyway) was where a regular local restaurant (I’ll do some digging to see if I can identify the one here that I saw first) would feature as a menu item “Kentucky Fried Chicken” using Sanders’ recipe. There would be a sign in the window or on the marquee advertising that they had the authority to claim it was honest-to-by-God “Kentucky Fried Chicken” as opposed to some other recipe.
At least by the time Goldfinger’s Kentucky scenes were filmed, there were stand-alone KFC places. The transition had to have happened before 1964, but exactly when the first KFC joint opened is still a bit of a mystery to me. 
If we go by the timeline at the site you linked to, then
I’ll continue trying to find the restaurant I remember being a KFC franchise in the early 60’s, but this article at The Nashville Scene includes