At least I hope you do, because outside of goo goo clusters, it’s the only food I know of that is strictly a Nashville dish. If you’re from Nashville, you know what hot chicken is. Follow his progress in this travelogue/review series, The Road to the 38, and check back at the end of the year to find out which restaurants made the cut.Hattie B’s is just one of the new places that serves up Nashville’s Hot chicken, and it’s so good, so addicting that they have expanded locations and are even opening up a few locations in Alabama. Restaurant Editor Bill Addison is traveling to chronicle what's happening in America's dining scene and to formulate his list of the essential 38 restaurants in America. Slurping down a root beer float, the dessert of choice, helped smothered the flames.ĭoes Hattie B’s give Prince’s tough competition? Nah, but it’s handy to have an intown option that does hot chicken justice and also furnishes some urban amenities. This was the sauciest version of hot chicken I’ve encountered the fat paper towel roll on our table dwindled fast. The hot version did sting, but through the cayenne’s blaze the nuances of black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika helped round out the flavors. Lovers of Sichuan cooking would likely handle the damn hot variation with ease. As at Prince’s I ordered medium and hot, and I found the burn at Hattie B’s original location softer in both cases. The chicken comes in five levels: Southern (as in no heat, a thoughtful option for the chile adverse), mild/medium, hot, damn hot, and Shut The Cluck Up. This was the sauciest version of hot chicken I’ve encountered The instant success begat a second location earlier this year near Tennessee State University. and his father, Nick Sr., wisely chose a location in Midtown Nashville, where families and office workers trail out the door at lunchtime. The Bishop family had begun experimenting with serving hot chicken on their cafeteria line and found it soon became one of their best sellers. Hattie B’s opened in 2012, the brainstorm of the owners of Bishop’s Meat and Three in Franklin, 20 minutes south of Nashville. Hattie B'sįor comparison, I also visited a relative hot chicken newcomer. Not so much the sides of flaccid crinkle fries and cloying baked beans-but those aren’t what hook the devotees, anyway. All that said? We polished off both chickens. Bites of creamy (otherwise mediocre) potato salad became our burn salve.

I was suddenly gushing sweat, and so were my friends. Then the fire began raging and the involuntary reactions kicked in.

First there was a fleeting 'no big deal' reaction: The spices felt gritty-dusty against the tongue, and I registered the skin’s crispness, the vegetal flavor of the chiles, and the juicy flesh underneath. My mouth thrummed, but it didn’t set off alarms. The medium, for those of us who appreciate spice but don’t crave daredevil extremes, smoldered pleasantly. It took about 40 minutes from the time we arrived until our first bite. Extra hot is known to cause whole-body discomfort (many of Prince’s employees stick to mild) my group took the middle road with medium and hot. The bird sits on pieces of grocery store white bread, topped with a few pickle coins. I was suddenly gushing sweat, and so were my friends.Ĭhoose among four heat levels: mild, medium, hot, and extra hot.

Nashville hot chicken hattie b