At fast-food restaurants, spicy is the motif-du-jour. Even as McDonald’s pulled its Spicy Chicken Sandwich from the menu last week, Wendy’s began test marketing its new Four-Alarm Chicken Sandwich (though not in Chicago), adding fuel to fast-food’s firefight. At Play visited five fast-food joints, ordering the spiciest item on the menu to find out if it lived up to its name.
Spicy Chicken Crunchwrap Supreme
Taco Bell
$2.40
What Is It? Shredded spicy chicken, tostada, sour cream, lettuce, tomato, inside a grilled tortilla folded into a hexagon.
How Hot? No spiciness on the first bite. Ditto the second. We tasted the adobo-colored chicken on its own. Memo to Taco Bell: Remove “Spicy” from name now.
(1 Chile Pepper)
8-piece Mixed Fried Chicken
Popeye’s Chicken & Biscuits
$8.99
What Is It? Two pieces each of leg, breast, wing and thigh. Layer of red chile marinade between chicken and breading.
How Hot? Quite. Not enough to make you reach for the seltzer bottle, but has a slightly-tangy Louisiana hot sauce kick that doesn’t overpower.
(4 Chile Peppers)
Spicy Tendercrisp Chicken Sandwich
Burger King
$3.49
What Is It? Hot-looking (deep orange color) chicken fillet, with tomato, lettuce, spicy mayo and bun.
How Hot? On its Web site, Burger King warns us to “get ready for a mouth-whupin’.” That’s cute, but not close to accurate. It’s a perfectly fine sandwich, but the chicken’s breading belies its mildness.
(2 Chile Peppers)
Double Jalapeno Cheeseburger
White Castle
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$1.32
What Is It? Classic bite-size White Castle Slyder, with two patties, onions and white jalapeno cheese.
How Hot? Looks harmless, but surprisingly spicy. Kick comes one-two-three seconds after biting into the sandwich.
(3 Chile Peppers)
Southwest Chipotle Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Arby’s
$4.11
What Is It? Grilled chicken, with colby jack cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion and chipotle mayo.
How Hot? Not at all and Arby’s doesn’t advertise it as such. But it’s altogether a fantastic sandwich–flavorful chicken, crispy bacon and bold mayo makes for a great combination.
(1 Chile Pepper)
Chile Pepper Scale: 1: Cool as a cucumber. 2: Amusingly piquant. 3: Ooh, now there’s a kick. 4: Hotter than an ant in Amarillo. 5: Ahhhhhhh!!!
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