Krispy Krunchy Chicken (South Haven)
520 Broadway StreetIt’s been a while since I’ve had gas station chicken. To be honest, I kind of missed it.
This saga actually started two weeks ago when my colleague and I got sent to South Haven. I thought, great, there are a couple of newish gas station chicken places there I could pick up dinner. One of them was closed. The other only had full chicken pieces left. It was only 6:00 so I was surprised everyone was closed for dinner already.
Last week, we got sent to South Haven again on Monday night. We did what we needed to do then I headed back towards one of the gas stations for chicken. This time, they were open.
Krispy Krunchy Chicken in South Haven is on Broadway Street at the intersection with Chambers Street inside the Marathon gas station. I have been going to South Haven for many, many years for work and I have never once stopped at this gas station. I saw the Krispy Krunchy Chicken sign pop up over the summer and knew I’d get there eventually.
The gas station has a pretty large convenience store to it. It sits right on the main north/south road in City and isn’t too far from downtown. It’s situated between downtown and the high school campus so if you’re driving through town, this is one of the first gas stations you’ll see. I usually hit ones on the edges of town either on Blue Star Highway or in South Haven Township just as I’m coming in to town.
The chicken counter is right in front of you has you walk in- on the other side of the store. It’s a typical Krispy Krunchy Chicken display. The clerk at the cash register saw me walking towards the chicken counter and met me over there.
There were only a few tenders left in the warming cabinet which can be a bad sign that they’ve been sitting for a while. I briefly considered grabbing a sandwich and some mac and cheese from the grab and go section but I haven’t always liked that when I’ve done it in the past so I ordered a three tender box which comes with three tenders, a side, and a biscuit.
I grabbed the box and a couple of bottles of Pepsi then headed over the cash register to pay. The cost was just a little over $16.
My colleague and I actually had one more thing to do in town before heading back to Kalamazoo. I kind of took my time finishing up that task and ate when we got to where we were going.
I was concerned about the chicken sitting too long but that turned out to be nothing to worry about. This actually was some of the tenderest, juiciest Krispy Krunchy Chicken I’ve had in a while. I had gotten a buffalo sauce cup but I ended up not using it. The chicken was pretty darn tasty on it’s own.
For the side, I picked the potato wedges which is my usual side choice. These were nice and crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy in the middle. Again, I assumed they had been sitting there for a while but they didn’t taste overcooked or stale at all. I always like these wedges because they have a bit of seasoning on them when you get them so they don’t need a lot of extra or a sauce to dip them in..although I did still have that Buffalo sauce.
The final piece of the meal is the biscuit. This is another thing that can go from delicious when it’s fresh to almost awful when it’s not. This biscuit was somewhere in the middle. It was still soft enough that I didn’t break my teeth but this is one part of the meal that felt like it had been sitting for a bit. The biscuit is covered in honey which can make everything you touch for the rest of the day sticky. I’d prefer something without the honey but these biscuits aren’t bad if you catch them at the right time. This one was fine but my steering wheel was sticky for a day or so after I ate this biscuit.
This was definitely one of the better Krispy Krunchy Chicken meals I’ve had in a while. It’s also something that’s good for South Haven. A beach town really needs more quick grab and go options and there aren’t a ton of those in South Haven. Yes, it’s nice to have good sit down restaurants at night but when you’re running around during the day, it’s also nice to be able to grab something and take to the beach with you. I’ve made my feelings about Krispy Krunchy Chicken pretty well known…I mean, I’ve blogged about it a lot in the last couple of years. I am always in the mood for gas station chicken and I really do like when I see one of these on my travels. I know I will get a decent meal at a decent price.
