The fast food chain that claims to have invented the chicken sandwich has created a new one. Chick-fil-A , the standard bearer of fast food fried chicken sandwiches, released its latest dish Monday — the maple pepper bacon sandwich . The new sandwich features a lemon and herb-marinated grilled chicken breast topped with pepper jack cheese, sweet and spicy pickles, lettuce, bacon tossed in a brown sugar and black pepper blend, all on a maple-flavored brioche.
If that sounds like a lot, that’s because it is a lot. Too much, I feared. This was the issue with the Georgia-based chain’s previous seasonal sandwich, the honey pepper pimento chicken sandwich .
It was good, but simply too busy and ambitious. The beauty of Chick-fil-A’s sandwiches is their simplicity. I don’t even get the “deluxe” version of their sandwich, the chicken is simply so tender and flavorful it doesn’t need extra toppings.
Adding to my concern was the grilled component of sandwich. You don’t go to Hawaii to ski, you don’t go to California for pizza and you don’t go to Chick-fil-A for grilled chicken. In fact, do you go anywhere for grilled chicken? It isn’t just that grilled chicken is boring.
It’s that Chick-fil-A’s fried chicken is so elite that you forget about the calories and take the deep-fried plunge when you go there. But alas, I made the trek to Chick-fil-A in earnest on Monday, curious for the latest offering from the spot known for good chicken and bad spelling. The staf.