PDQ, new fresh chicken tender restaurant, opens in Frisco, and there’s a whole lot to cluck about — including DFW’s best chicken sandwich

PDQ Frisco serves Cheerwine soda from North Carolina

I’m going on record now: PDQ in Frisco has the best fried chicken sandwich in all of DFW. Take a look at that picture. You’ll understand why.

Frisco is turning out to be Ground Zero for fried chicken cluckeries. Chick-Fil-A, Cane’s, Zippy’s (a newcomer) and now PDQ are all there, competing for your scratch. But there’s good news in the hen house: PDQ, a transplant from Florida with big eyes on expansion beyond Frisco, serves mighty fine fast-casual tenders, salads and sandwiches, plus a peanut butter and chocolate milkshake that will knock you silly.  The restaurant opens for business today.

I popped in for a VIPeak at the Frisco PDQ, toured the place with company execs, and came away a believer. Everything is made fresh to order, from the buttermilk-dipped fresh chicken tenders to the twice-cooked, skin-on french fries to salads to that milkshake. New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme created the spice mix for the batter, which has just the right balance of spicy seasonings and salt to keep you from beelining to the water cooler as soon as you get home. The chicken tenders were good — and the fried chicken sandwich, with its toasted bun, tender chicken, crunchy batter, crisp lettuce and tart pickles, was best-in-class. The fried turkey sandwich was nearly as good.

I also love that PDQ serves coleslaw studded with blueberries. I love the fresh squeezed lemonade. And I love the Cheerwine served by the bottle, a North Carolina soda akin to RC Cherry Cola that is served at the NC store that inspired PDQ’s founder, a former Outback Steakhouse exec, to move into chicken.

The Frisco PDQ is Texas’s first; additional stores are planned throughout the area, with the next PDQ slated for Murphy, Texas. The sign above the service counter says PDQ stands for people dedicated to quality. Having toured the operation, I think they mean it. PDQ is PDG.