Federal Donuts announced via Instagram yesterday that it has a new sandwich.
Meet the Tel Aviv. Federal Donuts describes it as “a fried chicken breast with za’atar seasoning, fiery schug tehina sauce, house made Israeli pickles, and a slice of tomato on a Martin’s Potato Roll.” It’s available this summer for $9 in Center City (though the eatery did tease other locations in the future).
This new sandwich is a fried chicken sandwich with an Israeli twist.
But to be honest, a fried chicken sandwich is so good — that soft bread; the crispy, savory chicken — that this attempt to modify it came as a disappointment. It’s not a bad sandwich, but I would take the traditional version any day.
For starters, the za’atar seasoning is too strong. Then there was the tomato slice. Despite the fact that tomatoes are in season, it lacked flavor, although perhaps it was just overwhelmed by the za’atar. The pickles also seemed overwhelmed, though by the schug tehina.
I suppose, though, that if you’re a chicken shawarma superfan, then this might be a dish for you.
The highlight of this sandwich was definitely the chicken. The fry on it was perfect, with a crispy outside and a moist inside. And it had a lovely reddish coloring.
And the potato roll? Well, you can never go wrong with that.
