The Ballston Common Mall’s basement-level food court isn’t the best place to get excited about something new and spicy, especially when that something is the same spicy chicken, only served at 9 a.m.

Young & Hungry, with a freshly printed preview reservation for Chick-fil-A‘s yet-to-officially debut spicy chicken biscuit in hand, walked up to the Georgia-based chicken fast-food chain’s outpost in Ballston. About 30 seconds later, an employee handed Y&H a bag containing the magical new creation which will be added to the menu starting Monday.

When the “spicy”-branded foil was unwrapped, the biscuit revealed itself to be the same spicy chicken patty Chick-fil-A uses for lunch, minus the bun and pickles. The biscuit is more chewy and less oily than biscuits at McDonald’s or Burger King. Chick-fil-A is quite proud of its biscuits, even offering them as a menu item by itself, which you can’t get at McDonald’s. (Perhaps because it would crumble quickly?) The flavor of Chick-fil-A’s sacred biscuit gets masked by the chicken patty’s spiciness, as well as the crispiness of the breading.

Y&H surveyed a few groggy customers who came in that morning to cash in on their preview spicy biscuit.

Erik Viergutz, who works near the shopping center, said he has always been a huge fan of Chick-fil-A’s spicy chicken sandwich. “They’re awesome,” he said, as he and a friend picked up some biscuits. “They’ve got very good flavor.”

For those unfamiliar with Chick-fil-A’s other spicy options, the chicken isn’t actually that spicy, though it does have a decent kick. However, the spice tends to linger for a while, so be careful if the thought of mixing coffee with a spicy aftertaste makes you uncomfortable.

Still, as breakfast sandwiches go, the spicy chicken biscuit is a good bet, if you can get over eating spicy chicken for breakfast.

(Friendly reminder: Chick-fil-A is, famously, not open on Sundays.)

Photo by William F. Zeman