Yancy GarciaSubway. Taco Bell. Chipotle. Besides a few exceptions like Kabo Kitchen and Epic Wings, the restaurants within walking distance of Santa Ana College are pretty trash. Don’t even get me started on what Chipotle does to my stomach. So when a new Raising Cane’s opened up just across the street on Bristol, I fell on my knees and did three Hail Marys.
The only issue was the price.
I’ve always enjoyed the Louisiana-based fast-food restaurant, but usually I’d have to beg my mom to get it for me. All gain, no pain, know what I mean? But today, as a financially challenged college student, I was curious if the glorious, steaming-hot chicken strips would be worth spending what little money I had left in my bank account.
While I don’t go to Raising Cane’s that often, the easy-to-grasp menu makes it easy to order. There are only five combos, which exude confidence. Like In-N-Out, the chicken joint specializes in one thing and does it well.
The cheapest combo is the kids combo at $8.29 for two tenders, sauce, fries and a drink. All of the combos are the same items, but in different tender quantities. Coming at a whopping price of $18.79 before tax, the Caniac Combo is the largest. It comes with six delicious tenders, fries, two sauces, Texas toast, and a drink. Insanity, I know.
The combos come with coleslaw that you can substitute for an extra sauce or toast, because, let’s be honest, if you’re getting the coleslaw at Raising Cane’s, I’ve got a bone to pick with you. It’s so bad that it makes even my cooking taste half decent in comparison to their slop. Sorry, I mean coleslaw.
So, let’s talk about the chicken. What makes Cane’s chicken strips different from others is how fresh they taste. The soft breading on their chicken is so sublime that it makes other chicken places like Popeyes taste mediocre in comparison.
The sauce is the real highlight of the meal. It has a richness, a zanginess and a clean look to it that, unlike ranch, which makes you throw up just by looking at it, tastes so good with the chicken. If I had to guess how it’s made, I’d say it’s a mix of mayo, Lawry’s season salt, lemon juice, and some other ingredients that probably come from heaven. Whatever it is, it’s addictive.
Their crispy, fried-in-butter bread is good by itself, but also perfect for mopping up any of that magic sauce that spills onto your plate. Somehow, it’s the most comforting thing to eat after a long day of having your face buried in textbooks.
If there is a God, he was there that day, blessing me with a large Arnold Palmer drink, the tea and lemonade both made fresh on the premises. Folks, I let Jesus take the wheel and save me on that hot sunny day.
The food is so good that it pains me that it costs so much. I just think $20 is a bit of a head scratcher.
Although if you get the combo with a friend and share the meal, you can split it at an even price after tax, and it becomes affordable with you taking three pieces of chicken fingers and a side of bread, and your friend or significant other doing the same. The fries and large drink can be shared, so that works out too.
But I don’t like to share… so I got to enjoy those six chicken fingers and two pieces of bread all to myself. I even tried making a sandwich with the two pieces of bread and a chicken finger in between. I then added some fries into the sandwich and poured the Canes’ sauce all over it. It was superb, but it also meant that I had to pay for all that superbness by myself.
Don’t get me wrong, Raising Cane’s is worth every penny, I just don’t have that many pennies. If I could, I would be chomping down their chicken every day.
As a college student with a part-time job, I’ll just have to settle for looking at it across the street, as I did with all my crushes in high school.
