TASTINGS : The Chicken Challenge : Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pioneer Take Out face judgment at dinner.

Wine tastings are very “in” these days. Even beer tastings seem to be popular with “foodies.” And would you believe in the last year I’ve actually been to two olive oil tastings?

All these tastings started me wondering about the actual public service benefit of many of them. How come no one ever seemed to do tastings of foods that lots of people eat?

Which is how we found ourselves in the Ventura home of optometrist Warren Giss and his wife, Micki, one evening, surrounded by tons of fried chicken and some relevant side dishes. The fast food had been gathered from the three major chains doing business in the area--Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pioneer Take Out.

“I’m all greased out,” was the pertinent comment at the end of that meal. And no wonder--we were, after all, eating fried chicken. Pioneer and KFC both cook their product in vegetable shortenings, while Popeyes uses a mixture of vegetable and animal shortenings.

At this “blind” tasting, a good deal of beer and chicken went down. In addition to our hosts, there was a newly married couple whose combined age is 164, two women just out of a Santa Barbara hotel and restaurant management school, and Your Humble Servant.

Exterior trappings were removed before the food hit the table. Only the server knew where each piece of chicken came from. Results were mixed.

KFC’s chicken edged out Pioneer’s--but just by a smidgen. Seasoning was the key.

“More taste, really good seasonings,” said the far end of the table.

It was the most peppery, with moist meat. And though most of us thought it was crisp enough, there was a dissenting opinion: “It’s the best, all right, but a bit soggy.”

And the KFC chicken “stays edible longer,” we agreed. If you’re using fried chicken on a picnic you’ll notice that after an hour or so there’s a definite wilting of the fowl and the grease starts to come to the fore. That’s when the “I’m all greasy” plaints come out in force. This was especially noticeable with Pioneer and Popeyes.

The Pioneer came in a close second, but it was my favorite. I thought they did a better job of getting all the parts moist, whereas KFC and Popeyes seemed often to to dry out the white meat. But the Pioneer did get soggy quickly.

“It’s like my grandmother’s Southern fried,” someone said. Another thought it was “seasoned like a grilled chicken, and it’s nice and crisp.” But one isolationist actually voted Pioneer the worst. “Underdone,” he said, and “horribly greasy.”

Popeyes did not fare well in our group.

“This looks like fried fish,” one of the group mumbled. “No seasonings, looks lousy and tastes that way.”

But there was one valiant soul who swore that this was the best of the bunch.

“I like the natural taste, it doesn’t have all that spice, and it’s moist and crisp,” she said, defending her position well into dessert.

Nearly everyone agreed that Pioneer looked the best, the most appetizing. In fact, we were all surprised at how different they looked.

On the side, we dealt with coleslaw, some mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits and, in the case of Popeyes--which doesn’t serve mashed potatoes--Cajun rice. All but one of us disliked the rice, which was very spicy. The only person who did like it was one of the newlyweds, who found it “beautifully seasoned.”

Biscuits, frequently the side dish of choice with fried chicken, also got mixed reviews. One of our young professionals was looking for more KFC biscuits at the end of the meal, and a majority gave their vote to these. Several of us came close to cursing the Popeyes biscuits, which--though smoother and more uniform than the others--tasted awful.

We were just about unanimous on the mashed potatoes from Pioneer and KFC.

“Just gravy carriers, and what they carry is terrible,” said one of us.

“They may as well be powdered,” said another.

“Too sweet, too salty,” said a third member.

Pioneer picked up “best slaw” honors, mostly for its product’s crispness and chopped texture. The KFC version was more finely minced, Popeyes’ was shredded--too creamy and too sweet. “The worst, awful,” were the Popeyes slaw comments.

By the end of an evening filled with fried chicken, side dishes, white wine and beer, there was not one of us who ever again wanted to look in the direction of a fried chicken outlet. It had been a very greasy evening. But someone had to do it.

* FYI

* Kentucky Fried Chicken: 15-piece bucket, $13.15.

* Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken: 16-piece box, $14.49.

* Pioneer Take Out: 16-piece bucket, $13.99.