Aria Brent
Variety Editor
The argument “who has the better chicken tenders?” is one that Southerners have been having for years. The two main contenders in this argument are beloved fast-food chains Zaxby’s and Raising Canes. However, there is a new competitor to add to this argument for Jacksonians.
Earlier this year, Huey Magoo’s opened in Pearl, Miss., and since then I have heard nothing but raving reviews. I was told that their chicken was juicy and tasted fresh. When asking people how they enjoyed it, they noted that they appreciated the option to add different flavors to their chicken tenders, much like Zaxby’s. And I personally really enjoy Zaxby’s so that alone was a selling point for me to go ahead and try out Magoo’s.
This past weekend I went and tried Huey Magoo’s, and I enjoyed it. I got a five-piece tender meal with a large lemonade. Chicken tenders can be ordered either hand-breaded or grilled. The lemonade was good. It had a nice balance of sweet and sour and neither flavor profile was overwhelming the other.
All meals come with coleslaw, a piece of garlic Texas toast and a side of Magoo sauce. The Magoo sauce was noted to be like a “comeback” sauce and then was further explained to favor Canes’ infamous dipping sauce.
I ordered my chicken tenders dipped in their sweet heat sauce. This was just one of several sauce options they offered. In total they offer six different kinds of sauces that you can get your chicken tenders dipped in or on the side, including: buffalo, blue cheese, honey mustard, sweet heat, barbeque, and garlic parmesan. In addition to this, I also substituted my coleslaw for an extra piece of Texas toast.
Despite getting a traditional tender meal, Magoo’s offers a variety of items such as salads, sandwiches and even wraps. As sides they offer fries, fresh cut chips and coleslaw. They serve Coke products as well as a multitude of house-made drinks such as watermelon sweet tea, lemonade and both traditional sweetened and unsweetened tea.
The food came out very quickly and it was hot. This was appreciated, especially because cold chicken tenders aren’t very good.
The sweet heat sauce was very flavorful. It had Asian inspired notes and was like a sweet chili sauce. On the other hand, it also kind of just tasted like buffalo sauce mixed with honey. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it.
I dipped both my tenders and my fries in their signature sauce. Due to the chicken already being coated in the thick, sweet heat sauce I couldn’t really taste the Magoo sauce. Once having tried it on my fries though, I was able to truly taste it and it did in fact, taste like Canes’ sauce. They have a spicy version of their signature condiment as well, along with the classic chicken dipping sauce, ranch. The fries were crispy on the outside with a fluffy interior. They were lightly seasoned and an overall great component to the meal in its entirety.
However, I cannot say the same for the Texas toast I had. The toast was dry and flavorless. Considering how delicious everything else was, for the bread to be so bland I really was disappointed. To have two pieces of it only added insult to injury.
Having gotten my tenders sauced and a large drink, I ended up paying a little over $13 for my meal. Had I ordered them plain along with a regular sized drink, I would have paid about $11.
Overall, Huey Magoo’s was worth the try. The company affectionately refers to their product as “the filet-mignon of chicken” and in my experience, they definitely upheld that standard. On a scale of one to 10, I give it an 8.6. I would come back and further explore their menu for sure.
