KFC Double Down: Chicken Isn't Bread

KFC’s Double Down sandwich gained internet infamy from the moment it hit test markets in Omaha and Providence last summer. It’s a fried chicken sandwich turned horrifyingly inside out, with bacon, cheese, and mayo smooshed between chicken instead of bread. On April 12, this monstrosity became available nationwide. A week later we trekked to the KFC on 14th Street and Second Avenue to satisfy our curiosity about what looked like an abomination against nature and stomachs, only to find that the Double Down is less an abomination than a somewhat inoffensive, mediocre novelty.

Before chomping down, it was impossible not to notice grease soaking through the wrapper, coating your fingers and making you wonder if you should forget that the combo cost $8tk (with tax), skip the sandwich and try to get your money's worth in soda refills. But that would be cheating. On the first bite, the chicken is surprisingly spongy, lacking the crispy-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside duality that makes regular KFC so satisfying. The bacon smells like
Beggin’ Strips and is mostly overwhelmed by the chicken. In fact, everything is overwhelmed by the chicken. There is entirely too much chicken.

What can be tasted of the mayo is reminiscent of the herbed mayo of McDonald’s Crispy Chicken sandwich. But the worst part is the cheese--pure plastic American, Kraft Singles-style. It comes only half-melted, but still manages to slide to the bottom and, with the mayonnaise, forms a greasy, plasticy, white blob at the bottom of the wrapper.  Eating the mayonnaise-and-cheese overhang straight creates a whiplash-inducing shock of chemical nastiness.

On the plus side, the chicken is pleasantly salty and slightly spicy. However, when we finished, we found ourselves wishing that we could have had two pieces of bread and some lettuce and perhaps a tomato slice to finish it off--a chicken sandwich! 

The Double Down is not bad enough to justify the hype and not good enough to surprise.  "Alright" would be a good way to sum it up. It will go the way of New Coke and be replaced by whatever beastly creation the evil scientists at Taco Bell think up next.