Whatabuger Hot Honey Pimento Chicken Sandwich Is Elite Fast Food

Today I had the pleasure of demolishing Whataburger’s new(!) and limited(!) chicken sandwich- the Hot Honey Pimento Chicken Sandwich. Going in, I did not know what I should expect. I had Chick Fil’A’s Pimento Cheese sandwich and didn’t love it. It kind of made me a little sick, which I suspect is the fault of their runny Pimento cheese. It’s not a condiment Chick Fil’A- good Pimento cheese can hold it’s own and at worst, in a role like this, should still be considered a complimentary protein, ala Bacon or Pepperoni.

Yeah, let’s just start at the selling point of this sandwich- the Pimento cheese. Whataburger gets it right and I suspect it’s what Chick Fil’A was looking for- an easily scoopable, soft, rich (but not runny) Pimento cheese that cushions the bottom of the fried chicken patty and parries the heat of the Hot Honey sauce. It doesn’t taste good, it’s an experience. When you bite into this, you will first be hit with the spice and character of the Hot Honey, then the crispy, juicy chicken, with the heat traveling down until- BANG! your bottom bite of Pimento cheese slams into the Hot Honey like a snowdrift quelling a fire. It’s like that story “To Build A Fire”. Only this is happier and in reverse- if anything, this spice is burning me to death, in a good way and the creamy relief of the Pimento cheese ends a bite that feels like a little journey.

But what about everything else? Well, it’s Whataburger, it’s damn good. The chicken is fried a little hard but still has some juice. It works because on one side is a creamy Pimento cheese and on the other the sticky Honey Hot sauce. The dynamics of even a single bite of this sandwich are impressive. I’ve never given Whataburger buns enough credit either. It holds the creamy Pimento cheese firmly on the sandwich and doesn’t get soaked by the Honey Hot. Sturdy bun, sturdy foundation. This is an ELITE fast food chicken sandwich from top bun to bottom bun.

This is exactly the kind of accessible intelligence and taste fast food could benefit from having in this economy, but unfortunately, Whataburger is one of the few that does it really well. Everytime I go, I see something new I want to try. It’s one of the best restaurants in America. It doesn’t do anything overly fancy, it knows the scope of it’s audience and quality. There’s no What-A-Eggs-Benedict or What-A-Sushimi. It’s fun, creative takes on the Americana that is fast, fatty centered foods.

All of this ranting is to say: go try this before it’s gone.