Still searching For Wenatchee’s best crispy chicken sandwich

A little background, for some reason I seem to be slightly obsessed about the concept of the crispy chicken sandwich. Personally, I prefer the spicy crispy chicken sandwich and up until a few days ago my favorite was still at KFC. But just a few days ago I tried out a crispy chicken sandwich that could be a contender. 

It has been a while since I've had lunch at Sweetwood BBQ in Wenatchee, and one of the reasons is that except for Saturdays, the only hours they're open are from 3:00p to 8:00p, Tuesday through Thursday, 3:00p to 9:00p Friday and 11:00a to 9:00p on Saturday. 

On Friday, one of my coworkers mentioned that they had tried a crispy chicken sandwich at Sweetwood BBQ, and I had no idea that they had this on their menu. Needless to say, I was more than intrigued. 

Now because of the schedule I keep, it’s very difficult for me to try anything at Sweetwood BBQ during the weekdays, but Saturday is wide open for me and since I had to come into town anyway to do something else, I decided to stop there for lunch. 

I showed up at the parking lot, found a place to park, and then I decided to save a little time and called in my order. They said it's not a problem; they'll have it be ready in about 5 to 7 minutes. This kind of surprised me, I thought it might take a little bit longer. 

So, I hung out in the car for a couple minutes and then I went inside, introduced myself, paid my bill, found a place to sit and less than a minute later I had the sandwich sitting in front of me. On the menu, it's called the fried chicken sandwich and on the surface it's very simple. A big piece of fried chicken, Pickles, a brioche bun and a BBQ sauce which I guess technically you would call a BBQ aioli. (Take the BBQ sauce, put a little mayonnaise in and whip it up.) 

The first thing you'll notice is this sandwich has some height. It's big! For some people it's big enough that they might want to cut it in half and take half of it home in a to go box for later. The brioche bun was solid, and that is good news because the last thing you want is to have the bun disintegrate on you while you're trying to eat your chicken sandwich. The BBQ sauce had just the tiniest bit of heat, which was kind of nice. The Pickles were, of course, dill and that's it. The sandwich is just that simple and that's what makes it good. 

For me, the first bites have to be just the chicken that's sticking outside the bun. Once that is taken care of, then you can get busy. Because the sandwich is so big, it takes a little effort to actually get your mouth around it so you can get a good bite. The perfect bite, with bun, sauce, chicken and pickle was very satisfying. The chicken was plump and moist and had great flavor. 

Even though it was quick to make and delivered to the table, I don't know that I would technically call this fast food. It's a little more serious than fast food, and with the price of $11.50, it's a little more expensive than fast food, but not a lot. 

Is this the best crispy chicken sandwich in Wenatchee? I don't know yet, there's still a few more I must try and of course I really would like to try the one from Popeye's and also Chick-fil-A. Of course, right now we don't have a Popeyes or Chick-fil-A, although the rumor is that Chick-fil-A is coming. (I'll believe it when I see it.) Just remember, if you want a fried chicken sandwich from Sweetwood BBQ for lunch, you're going to have to wait until Saturday.  

I think it's worth the wait. 

Sweetwood BBQ - Wenatchee, WA