what time did you try? I saw they were accepting online orders around opening time.
Hmm so weird I tried all morning! Before and after opening. Kept on getting restaurant not accepting orders or something like that
Agreed the tenders were really small and not as good as the sandos.
Donât bother and get the sandos.
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theyâre closed today
wasnât worth it
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I know⌠Only after checking IG (b/c the website says open on Sundays). ::sigh::
Frenzy is over. No line at 1pm.
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Terrific sandwichâŚso moistâŚslaw was really great, and the heat level (hot) did the trick without being too much. Liked the hot honey dipping sauce. Daybird sauce on the side didnât have any great flavor on it own. I did not detect any Sichuan pepper flavor or numbness/tingling.
Elvis was working the fryer and line.
2 parties on line when we arrived and we got served about 15 mins after ordering.
Spotted @chrishei in the wild.
Tried to bang bang with Dinoâs but the line was really long.
Ended up with an order of Dayribs from Ham Ji Park.
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damn the fry on meiâs chicken looks exactly like the crispy scales on fried amadai.
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Arrived just after noon to a modest line and ordered a sando (medium) and a tender (hot) with pickles and a couple of sauces.
Tender (for the road)
The tender was quite large and wonderfully crispy. The hot spice level wasnât overwhelming and thankfully didnât obliterate my pallet, but it had a really nice lingering heat.
I enjoyed the two sauces I gotâDaybird Sauce and the Habanero Ranch. The Daybird Sauce gave me a bit of a really creamy BBQ sauce vibe, while the Habanero Ranch just slapped.
Szechuan Hot Chicken Sando
Wanting a fastball down the middle, I went with medium for the sando, and found it incredibly delicious. The chicken itself was perfectly cookedâsuper juicy on the inside and with a superior crisp on the outside. Itâs quite remarkable how well executed this fried chicken is, though I wouldnât expect anything less with Chef Lin at the helm.
A thought on the construction of the sandwich: the piece of chicken is massive and obviously doesnât fit in the bun, which is fine. The slaw though is essential to the experience to balance it all out, so I did a bit of surgery and cut the chicken in half so I could get it all between the bun.
I could have used a bit more heat on the chicken, so I think the move is to go with the hot spice level in the future. Overall though, this sandwich is a banger.
Now for the inevitable Davbird vs. Howlinâ Rayâs fried chicken sandwich comparison. Straight up, I think Howlinâ Rayâs still has the belt. Daybird executes better chicken, but the whole sandwich from Howlinâ Rayâs comes together with a slight edge. At the end of the day though, theyâre both work seeking out.
Some stray thoughts: there was no line by the time I left around 1pm at Daybird, while we know Howlinâ Rayâs often saw hours long lines well past lunch time. Now that the only way (currently) to get Howlinâ Rayâs is through delivery, thatâs really no longer a barrier. As long as you can get Howlinâ Rayâs delivered quickly so the quality of the sandwich doesnât take a nosedive, itâs hard to beat that proposition of no line and a fantastic sandwich. Though if you want something thatâs just as awesome and guaranteed to be fresh with minimal effort, Daybird canât be beat.
Iâm looking forward to round 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and on and on of the debate. Competition is good.
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It is possible to get it delivered quickly? I havenât tried recently, but I was actually AT the Far East Plaza, and the sandwich was still largely soggy.
Iâm about a mile away, so from pick up to drop off itâs been solid for me! Obviously not as great as it would be with pick up, but beggars canât be choosers.
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@rlw Thank you for the report!!!
That looks considerably larger than what @PorkyBelly posted, you can compare it in his photo above.
it looks like they went away from the actual chicken tenders (so much more expensive and smaller) and now are cutting up chicken into strips?
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Iâm so glad you brought that up.
Sheâs clearly making a statement that a sandwich can be more than âjustâ a sandwich, which purists may object to, while others (whatâs the best antonym of purist here?) of a more progressive sensibility may adore.
I, personally, love the architecture of this thing. It fulfills all that a sandwich is and should be, while giving one a big bonus chunk of bird (flying??? out of the top). You can go for the bonus first - it can be eaten without destroying the integrity of the sandwich (if you keep the rest of it inside the cardboard wrapper). Or surgically remove it, as @rlw suggests, for follow up pleasures.
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so you basically constructed a double chicken sandwich? brilliant.
The great part is, the integrity of the sandwich holds up, so that if you get a good grip on the other end you can easily drop a bunch of sauce on the naked end and eat it like you would a tender.
It was definitely a BIG bite. My jaw was stretched.
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I kinda felt like it was showing off the technique on the chicken, making sure you get some bites of the thing itself so you can appreciate it without the cover of sauce/slaw. I liked having both segments, but I agree that the slaw is fantastic.
(fwiw I also prefer Howlinâ Rayâs chicken outside of the sandwich - as a whole bird or wings or tenders - so this may be a me thing, ymmv etc)
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1pm drive by today and no line to be found. Is the buzz already gone?
maybe there are still on soft open schedule? close sunday-tuesday