For the Love of Popeyes Chicken

Most people when they hear the name "Popeye", they think of the lovable spinach-eating sailor man from Saturday morning cartoons, but it makes me think of my favourite fried chicken fast food restaurant. Established in 1972, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen has been making mild and spicy fried chicken along with sides such as red beans and rice, Cajun fries and mashed potatoes that beat anything that the Colonel has to offer. The first time I ate at the apostrophe-free Popeyes was back in 1991. I was in New York visiting my cousins, and we stopped there before going to see "Boyz in the Hood". I remember loving how tasty and non-greasy the chicken was, and lamenting that we didn't have a restaurant like that back home. I didn't get another taste of "Louisiana Fast" until over a decade later when I discovered there was a Popeyes in Toronto during a visit with my future wife. She too became a Popeyes convert. I made more converts when I took a trip to Detroit with some friends sometime later when we were visiting a friend living in London at the time; to this day, one of my boys says he'd take "a bullet in the ass" for some Popeyes. My love of this place may have caused me to oversell its greatness, as some friends of mine who have tried the food there didn't think it was as amazing as I described it, but even then, they agreed that it was better than the chicken they had at KFC (or Dixie Lee, or Church's for that matter). But now that Ottawa finally has a Popeyes location, with another now at Orleans location to taste for yourself. (Updated: Feb. 12, 2015)

NOTE: I have not been paid by AFC Enterprises to produce this blog entry, but if Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen wants to send some free food my way because of this, I won't object.