This Sacramento restaurant just debuted Beyond Meat’s vegan chicken tenders. How is it?

Four hundred independent restaurants across the United States, including Burger Patch, debuted the new Beyond Meat plant-based chicken tenders over the weekend. The all-vegan fast food restaurant began selling the new tenders Saturday at its midtown, east Sacramento and Davis locations.

The “chick’n” is made with fava beans and peas, comes pre-breaded and touts 14 grams of protein per serving, according to a Beyond Meat news release. Beyond will roll the chicken out to stadiums, hotels, colleges and other venues soon enough, though no announcement has been made on grocery stores yet.

Burger Patch sells the Beyond tenders a la carte ($7.90 for three with a dipping sauce) and as plain ($7.50) or hot chick’n sandwiches ($8.50). Each sandwich contains two tenders and two pickle slices between Truckee Sourdough Company buns, with Pushkin’s Bakery alternatives also available for the gluten-averse.

I started with the a la carte tenders, hoping to taste Beyond’s work in its least adulterated form, plus a dairy-free chocolate/vanilla shake topped with grilled cookie crumbles. The tenders’ breading was crispy enough on the outside but a bit gooey inside, and slipped off just a little easier than one might like.

The chick’n itself, however, was startlingly realistic. Its taste was right on beat with true meat, and fast food chains wish their bona fide chicken had that kind of pull-apart texture. There’s a slight yellow tint to the meat and it’s a hair softer than one might expect, okay, but it was significantly better than the bite-sized Gardein chick’n nuggets Burger Patch has sold since opening in 2019.

“It’s been over a decade (since eating meat), but I grew up on fast food and I’d like to think I still remember what chicken tenders taste like. And I couldn’t tell a difference,” Burger Patch co-owner Phil Horn said. “With reviews and speaking to customers, I think that holds true.”

Burger Patch got Beyond chick’n samples a couple of months ago and started experimenting with the tenders in earnest last month, he said. Customers lined up in advance of the Saturday launch, and caused Burger Patch to sell out at two of the three locations, both of which have been restocked.

The plain sandwich, though … yeah, plain’s the right word. Each sandwich comes with a choice of barbecue sauce, ranch dressing or the pink house Patch sauce (think thin Thousand Island dressing).

I ordered the last option, and watched in surprise as it came out not on the sandwich but in a small side cup. I was supposed to spread it myself, I guess, but figured I’d give the sandwich a bite or two as is first.

Chomping through buns to reach the chick’n dried out those bites, and two little pickle slices didn’t change that much. I slathered on the Patch sauce, which helped lubricate the sandwich but ended up dominating rather than complementing the star ingredient.

The closest comparison is Chick-Fil-A’s flagship chicken sandwich, and fans who prefer Burger Patch’s more progressive politics will likely be pleased with their version. But for eaters like myself who don’t feel nostalgic about that particular chain, some veggies — lettuce, coleslaw, tomatoes maybe — would help bring out the tenders’ exceptionally realistic flavor rather than relying on self-service sauce. A single patty slightly larger than the two tenders would also be preferable, though it’s understandable that Burger Patch wouldn’t try to deconstruct and then reconstruct pre-breaded strips.

The spicy sandwich’s housemade “scorcher sauce” marinade is decidedly more aggressive, Horn said. I didn’t have the stomach Monday for a cayenne-heavy sandwich, but Horn said it’s been a favorite so far.

“Half of it is that Beyond chick’n is an incredible product, and half of it is that we made a really spicy sandwich,” Horn said. “No pun intended, but we didn’t want to chicken out on this sandwich.”

Artificial meat has the potential to mitigate the climate consequences of raising livestock, and Beyond claims health benefits like zero cholesterol, no GMOs and 40% less saturated fat than the leading national chicken tenders. But while plant-based eaters are a relatively easy sell, faux chicken often needs to taste like the real thing for skeptical omnivores to get on board.

That was the problem with Beyond’s original chick’n, released to restaurants and grocery stores in 2013. It lacked the flavor and stringiness of actual chicken, food writers said, and Beyond quietly pulled it from shelves in 2019.

Version 2.0 mostly nails the taste and texture. As other restaurants get access to the hottest new faux meat, its success will come down to how they use it.