Chicken Caesar Review: KFC

Sooner or later, I was going to have to recognize the efforts of fast food restaurants to offer healthier fare. In this case, I started with KFC (which was once known as Kentucky Fried Chicken to us old-timers). Their Caesar Salad, which costs a paltry $3.99, comes with either crispy or roasted chicken. I chose the roasted to keep in line with the other salads I have reviewed. It also includes fresh lettuce, diced tomatoes, shredded Parmesan, garlic croutons and creamy Parmesan Caesar dressing.

Like the Chicken Caesar offered by Boston Market, this salad was not tossed. However, the size of the bowl and the finely chopped ingredients make it easy to do this yourself with the pouch of dressing included. This brings to mind one difference between this and restaurant salads that was very welcome: the chicken was actually cut into bite-size pieces. The chicken was juicy and flavorful, as one would expect from KFC, and was easily the best part of the salad. The cheese and the dressing are both very strong and come close to being overwhelming. The lettuce is Iceberg, not Romaine, and the tomatoes (not a traditional Caesar ingredient) are numerous enough to add an acidic quality to the salad as a whole. This is not exactly a criticism as I did enjoy the salad, but these two elements detract from this salad being an authentic Caesar. Finally, the guy putting together my to-go order forgot the croutons, so I'll just assume they were average for the type that come in a plastic pouch.

I'm not sure what I expected from KFC, but what I got was a very good salad for the price. The flavors may be a little too strong (which was also a fault of Boston Market) and the tomatoes too dominant, but the salad still deserves a strong recommendation purely from the value you get for your money.

"I've run out of stock"

Ladies and Gentleman (and all you Lost fans), may I present The Sawyer Song.

Creepy Crawlies

It's been a long week and, barring some breaking news story I feel the need to comment on, I'm folding up shop until Monday.

I leave you with, for no reason whatsoever, the Insect Shop. Go forth and multiply.

From the Home Office in Wahoo, Nebraska:

You know, Top Ten lists like this one make me wish I was still staying up late to watch Letterman. Oh well, that's what the Internet is for:

Top Ten Rafael Palmeiro Excuses

10. "Pete Rose bet me I wouldn't do it"
9. "There wasn't a Starbucks around and I needed a quick pick-me up"
8. "I enjoy the fresh minty flavor"
7. "Uhh, I lost it in the sun?"
6. "Somebody must've slipped something into my Viagra"
5. "Steroids illegal?! Since when?"
4. "Heard steroids give your mustache a glossy coat"
3. "Memory loss from steroid use made me forget I was on steroids"
2. " 'Roids rule, dude!"
1. "How am I supposed to keep track of every single thing I stick up my ass?"

And your "Insert your own punchline" Headline for the day is:

Koreans produce world's first cloned dog

I'm not touching that with a twenty foot pole. As for you folks, be my guest.

Having a war in Iraq is like having your baby teething

Interesting little Explainer on Slate today pertaining to the decision process involved with waking the President in the middle of the night:

It varies from president to president, but the task usually falls to the national security adviser or the chief of staff. In the White House, a small team of "watch officers" - drawn from the CIA, the military, and the State Department - keeps an eye on incoming news and intelligence reports 24 hours a day. If something important comes up during the graveyard shift, the watch officer in charge gets in contact with the national security adviser or chief of staff, either via their deputies or a with a direct phone call. The watch officers typically have standing instructions on what sort of news merits a wake-up; President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, for example, has said he wants to be awakened for any overseas incident in which Americans are killed.

I'm guessing Card really meant to say that any Americans who aren't in the military. Otherwise, Andy isn't getting a helluva lot of sleep these days.