Sunday, July 20, 2008

Dude Food: Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers

This next installment of Dude Food will not be a recipe, but simply a delicious and inexpensive restaurant. And with that, I give you Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers.
Chicken Fingers is all they do, and they do it well. I was first introduced to this place a little over four years ago at OSU. I had heard about the place... Heard people rave about the chicken fingers, and especially the sauce. I didn't think the place could be that special because what more can you do with chicken fingers? I decided to give the place a try anyway because you can get a lot of food for $5 (4 fingers, coleslaw, fries, texas toast, and a cup of sauce). I was blown away. I first tried the fingers straight up without any sauce and I was blown away. Unlike most restaurants that produce fingers that are very dry and way too salty, Cane's fingers are perfectly breaded with just the right amount of breading that is perfectly crispy and light. The chicken itself could not be any more moist and the seasoning is perfect. After sampling the plain finger, I gave the sauce a try. The sauce is what everyone raves about and I didn't think it would be anything special, but the sauce is incredible and adds great flavor to the chicken fingers and is simply delicious. What is also great about the Cane's is you can substitute items in their combos. Don't like coleslaw? Get extra texas toast or extra fries. Speaking of the toast and fries they are also delicious. The fries aren't seasoned with anything other than salt, which I like because then the fries don't take away from the great taste of the fingers. I suggest trying the fingers plain first to get an appreciation for how great they are on their own... but then definitely give them a try with the sauce and decide what you like best. Also, from spring to early fall Raising Cane's offers some of the best lemonade I've ever had.
However, we're not pairing this meal with lemonade. We're pairing it with beer. This meal is fairly light in flavor, but is extremely filling. A perfect match is Session Lager from Full Sail Brewing Company. Since this meal is filling, you don't want a filling beer. Session is light in flavor, but isn't bland and flavorless like macro lagers. A perfect match.

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