Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC and creator of things like Doritos Locos Tacos, opened a new chicken concept in Central Arlington Wednesday called Super Chix (612 W. Park Row). This test store is the only one of its kind in the country, and while the two main menu items, chicken strips and chicken sandwiches, are clearly a play off Chick-fil-A, it isn't an across-the-board clone.
As a way to say howdy to the neighborhood, Super Chix gave out free boxes of chicken strips on the first day of business yesterday, and nearby UTA students were more than happy to oblige. Today they'll have free fries; frozen custard on Friday. (Coupons can be found on the Super Chix Facebook page.) With 3,000-plus Arlington High School students just across the street and 34,000 UTA Mavericks less than a mile away, those items should go out the door easy, too.
Tightly swaddled in a dark brown, crumbly crust, the house tenders are essentially identical to Chick-fil-A. The thick pieces of piping hot bird are even served in a similar box with a similar Polynesian sauce, but Super Chix calls it their "Signature Sauce." Three strips with one sauce will cost you $3.25, plus another $3.25 for fries and a drink. Other sauces include honey mustard, smoky honey pepper and Sriacha sweet and sour.
Chicken sandwiches ($3.95) can be ordered with cheese, bacon, jalapeños, pickles, tomatoes and haystack onions. Again, all very similar to Chick-fil-A, but with more pickle options: Kosher, hot or sweet.
The interior of Super Chix is where the stark differences begin, and instead appear to more like a Chipotle with cement floors, high tables, a line that forms to the left of the counter and modern industrial touches. It's a far cry from red booths and a playland protruding out the front.
Also, unlike other Yum! Brands' other properties Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC, where novelty and sometimes straight out shock are often the themes, Super Chix appears to be reaching for a more culinary-conscious audience. The website mentions nothing of Yum! Brands, but rather tells a story of Christophe, Nick and Jeff, "three food-obsessed friends" who believed "chicken could and should be better." So they left out the junk and used "ingredients everyone can pronounce." They even spent a year looking for the perfect pickle. And there will be no MSG, HFCS or phosphates.
Super Chix serves only Idaho potatoes that are cut thin and crispy, skin-on and fried in 100-percent refined peanut oil. There are three different seasonings to toss your fries in: regular salt, sweet and salty, and rosemary black pepper. There are also salads, a club sandwich and cole slaw.
Super Chix has also doubled down on the custard game, touting the use of two vanilla beans: Madagascar Bourbon and Indonesian. They have vanilla, chocolate and strawberry in the regular rotation, plus a flavor of the day, which on Wednesday was black raspberry cheesecake. There are also mix-ins (Oreo, Heath, Reese's, M&M, etc.) and sundaes.
Super Chix at 612 W. Park Row is dine-in or take out only (no drive-thru) and they're open seven days a week from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Yes, they are open on Sundays.
