As many fast food fans know, Domino’s released the newest fast-food monstrosity invention yesterday: Specialty Chicken, essentially a pizza/chicken nugget hybrid involving a crust-like layer of breaded bird “covered in toppings, sauces, and cheeses.”
So how special does it taste? We had two versions delivered to the Washingtonian office: the “classic hot Buffalo” topped with spicy sauce, ranch, and cheeses; and the “spicy jalapeño pineapple,” a Hawaiian-esque blend of mango-habanero sauce, jalapeños, cheddar, and pineapple. The fact that two taste-testers immediately sought out mouthwash afterward speaks to the new food’s campaign motto—“failure is an option”—but there were also a few big fans. Below you’ll find the best reactions to the new food. KFC chicken corsage, you may have some competition.
Its health value:
“God, it’s all sugar.”
Its success as a junk food:
“These are everything I could want them to be. I could eat them every week.”
Its taste:
“It doesn’t taste like pizza, but it doesn’t taste like chicken, either.”
Its target audience:
“My kids would love this! Who wouldn’t love chicken nugget pizza?”
Its texture:
“It’s really soggy.”
Its smell:
“It smells like ranch, but not the good kind.”
Its texture again:
“They’re kind of . . . bouncy.”
Its culinary doppelgänger:
“It looks like fish en brochette, but it doesn’t smell like fish en brochette.”
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
