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New York City lovebirds, meet the Love Bird.
Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken's Valentine's Day treat throughout the month of February is a fried chicken sandwich jammed with truffle-coated and truffle-salt-sprinkled sweet potato fries, melted mozzarella and creamy truffle mayo, plus the usual fixings of lettuce, tomato and pickles.
Honestly, there's so much packed in that you could just split one with your date and have the cheapest Valentine's Day dinner ever at $9.25 a pop. Bae won't even be mad.
Blue Ribbon's signature fried chicken is fresh and juicy, the fries are crispy, the bun is sweet, and the mayo is creamy. It won't blow your mind, but the pleasant balance of sweet and savory, and slick and crunchy ticks the taste needle past inoffensive to straight-up delightful.
But, we know you're really here for the truffle. Even though there's a holy trinity of the en vogue mushroom (oil, salt, mayo, oh my!), the major complaint is that you could barely taste it. As one Time Out reviewer said, “It was a great, normal, satisfying fried chicken burger! Yet I tasted no truffle whatsoever.” Another agreed: “The truffle taste was more of an accent and not too overpowering like you have with some truffle dishes.”
But while some view the lack of truffley taste as a weakness, others view it as strength, as one truffle-hater explained, I am a big fan of Blue Ribbon's chicken burger itself, which is well-seasoned and perfectly cooked and delicious. I don't think the truffle adds much, but that's not a surprise, since I rarely think truffle adds much beyond the supposed glamor of eating a fungus with a good agent. It's not overwhelming while you're eating the sandwich—but it does leave a faint aftertaste.”
While people were mixed on the truffle, the crunchy sweet potato fries were a hit, adding a tinge of sweetness to the sodium bombardment and a hearty crunch against the soft tomatoes, pickles and smear of mayo.
And while our on-staff stone-hard thought the sandwich as a whole wasn't enough: “Super basic. I taste a minuscule amount of truffle. It was a waste.” Another staffer thought it was all just too much, “It all just needs to be separate. It doesn't need to be on a sandwich. It all needs to be its own thing, or in a bowl. I don't need the bread. But the bread can be on the side.”
She then added, “This would be a lot better at 2am when I am drunk.”
They say love is blind—thank the heavens it's not bland.
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