Tom and I love chicken salad. Our previous favorite was at the now-defunct Andersons Grocery Store. Their chicken salad, with raisins and grapes and no nuts, is still my favorite. But we recently discovered a restaurant that is giving Andersons’ chicken salad a run for its money. Even better, it is currently in business so I can actually buy some.
Chicken Salad Chick is a restaurant and a place to get a variety of chicken salads. It is a chain that you find mostly in cities across the south. In fact, the restaurant closest to us is the furthest north. Stacy Brown, the founder, loves chicken salad as much as we do. But she realized, after trying chicken salads from all over the United States, that everyone had a different idea of what the best kind is. She perfected a classic recipe and started selling out of her home. Eventually a run-in with the health department made her realize she needed to open a restaurant. Now there are 193 Chicken Salad Chick franchises across the United States.
One of the reasons Tom and I really like Chicken Salad Chick is that we can each get the kind of salad that we want. I like the Fruity Fran which has apple, pineapple, grapes and no nuts. Tom likes Olivia’s Old South which has pickle and egg. He is looking forward to trying Dixie Chick which has lots of onion, but so far they have been out of it when we have gone. Although the website says Dixie Chick is the only one with onion, the classic has onion powder in their special seasoning. You can pick up the chicken salad in 1/4 lb or 1/2 lb tubs or order a sandwich or salad in the restaurant. So far we have only gotten it in tubs to go. We have tried the Barbie-Q and the Egg Salad as well. One of the things we really like is that there isn’t much added salt, which is good for our low-sodium diet.
If we were eating in, I would probably order the Chicken Salad BLT. They also have homemade pimento cheese and turkey sandwiches. In addition to soups, salads, and sandwiches, they have baked daily treats. I especially like the sugar cookies but I can only buy one at a time. Otherwise I would eat them all. They sometimes have additional baked treats like chocolate cake or brownies.
Chicken Salad Chick is located near Polaris, which is just a short distance from us. Fortunately, it is on a busy street that we avoid when possible or we would be there once a week. Tom even checked into freezing it so he could have some available on the road, but you can’t freeze foods with mayonnaise.
If you see a Chicken Salad Chick, check it out. The sheer variety of the fresh-made chicken salad will have you coming back again and again to try them all.