Panda Express is testing an item called Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken at select locations in Los Angeles County as well as Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix and Reno.
The dish is made with dark meat chicken coated with a hot and sour seasoning and garnished with crispy kale. It comes with a chili crisp aioli.
Popcorn chicken is popular in Taiwan, according to Adrian Lok, director of culinary innovation at the Rosemead-based chain.
“When we come up with a dish like this, we want to honor the traditional dish but also have our own version and take on it,” he said. “We spent a lot of time working on the spice. We took inspiration from a dish already on our menu. It’s called Hot & Sour Soup. How do we take the flavors of Hot & Sour Soup and turn that into a dry spice?”
Popcorn chicken adds a mid-afternoon snacking option to the Panda Express menu, Lok said.
He was speaking in a video conference with Frankie Gaw, “Little Fat Boy” blogger and designer, who created a collectible pail. It features Panda Express mascot Pei Pei as a cowboy roping a container of popcorn chicken.
“My mind first went to popcorn buckets. I wanted to take inspiration from the red and white stripes that are classic to popcorn buckets,” Gaw said. “The other influence was pulling inspiration from the Asian side of things. A lot of my favorite references are old Asian packaging for snacks. They always have a lot of really playful characters.”
Beginning Wednesday, Sept. 9, customers who purchase a large order of Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken a la carte can get one of Gaw’s pails for free while supplies last.
Here are the test locations in Southern California.
Inglewood: 11222 S. Crenshaw Blvd., Inglewood; 6802 S. La Cienega Blvd., Space A.
Long Beach: 290 E. Fourth St.
Los Angeles: 1810 W. Slauson Ave., Suite E; 741 S. Soto St.; 524 E. Washington Blvd.; 2011 Westwood Blvd.; 1603 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica: 804 Montana Ave.
Walnut Park: 2120 E. Florence Ave.
Information: pandaexpress.com
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