Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen – Battle Creek
91 Columbia Ave. EastOne of the really cool things about traveling along the I-80 corridor are the service plazas that dot the highway through Indiana and Ohio. I know they’re there just because the highway is a toll road, but it would be so nice if all of the Interstate system had these plazas. They make it so easy to get off, get gas, use the restroom and pick up something to eat.
The thing that I really like about the whole system is there are different restaurants at each of the plazas. If you’re traveling for quite a while on the toll road like we were, you would actually have a choice of restaurants instead of having to settle for McDonalds.
We didn’t actually eat at any of our stops between Cleveland and Kalamazoo, but it did give us an idea for dinner. At the Middle Ridge Service Plaza, we noticed a sign for Popeyes Chicken. J said something about it being too early to eat, but she really wanted chicken. Even though it was still almost four hours away, I suggested stopping in Battle Creek and taking chicken home for dinner.
I’m really bummed there are no Popeyes in Kalamazoo. The closest is the Battle Creek location which is on Columbia Avenue about a mile west of I-196. Nothing out of the ordinary as far as the structure goes. Typical Popeyes with the typical fast food set up.
We decided to over order and got the 12 piece mixed meal with cajun fries, cole slaw, and six biscuits. J doesn’t like dark meat at all and she usually orders all white, but I talked her in to just doing the mix. I actually prefer white meat myself, but I don’t mind the dark meat. The total was just over $21 and we got enough food to last us for three meals.
When we got home, we both went for the sides knowing the chicken would hold up in the fridge if we couldn’t eat it all. The Cajun fries are my favorite side at Popeyes. The fries are fried crispy and dusted with a spicy, Cajun seasoning. The box of fries that came with the meal are intended to feed a whole family, but I did a pretty good job of polishing them off on my own.
The cole slaw is the same way. It’s a family size portion and since I don’t like cole slaw, J had that one all to herself. She, however, didn’t finish it all off. She just ate what she wanted and saved the rest for later.
Like always, we went with the spicy chicken. At my last job, I had a co-worker who really wanted to know if the chicken at Popeyes in the north was as spicy as the chicken at the Popeyes in Louisiana where she came from. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to eat at Popeyes with her to find out, but others have told me there’s not much of a discernible difference. I have no way of knowing for myself since I’ve never been that far south.
We both love the chicken from Popeyes. The breading is very crispy and has a pretty spicy kick to it. The chicken, including the white meat, was very juicy and delicious.
I think, by far, our favorite part of Popeyes is the biscuits. The store was unfortunately out of packets of honey, but we had enough at home for J. I like them just like they come out of the box. They’re buttery and flaky and they crumble in your hands. There are times we eat at Popeyes just for the biscuits.
Like I mentioned earlier, I’m actually pretty sad there is no Popeyes in Kalamazoo anymore. We’ve had some good chicken when we’ve had the craving, but we’ve also had some bad chicken at some of the local places. It’s hard to find a place that consistently does chicken the way we like it and Popeyes does that.
Cajun Battered Fries
Cole Slaw
12 Piece Mixed Spicy Chicken
Biscuits
SW Michigan Dining 
I love Popeyes! How were the fries? Never had them!! Did you try their sweet tea?
From what I have seen, Popeye’s does not have honey anymore. Instead of real bee spit, they have “Honey Sauce.” Just “bee” prepared to have your “honey” made of some honey and the rest HFCS and sugar and stuff.
I do love those biscuits, though.
Never noticed….I knew KFC had not honey, but didn’t realize Popeyes did too….too expensive to package the good stuff in those little packets I suppose.
I don’t eat the biscuits with honey anyway…they’re soooooooo good by themselves.