The Great Nashville Hot Chicken Exploration

So a quick editorial on Richie’s Chicken….

I wouldn’t really say that the chicken, as prepared for us, was really fit for human consumption.  It was essentially griddled chicken that was then dipped in sauce that I would say is closely equivalent to Dave’s insanity sauce and then innocently placed on a bun to make a “chicken sandwich”.  The fumes put off by the chicken were enough to cause a person to choke.  Actual contact would cause a chemical burn.

Upon first bite, the heat came fast and furiously (and that badly, too).  The next 10 or so minutes consisted of an onslaught of such pain that it was almost impossible to even stay seated.  My mouth burned more than it ever has before.  It was like drinking a scalding hot liquid which wouldn’t cool down, even after being swallowed.  I even resorted at one point to sucking on an ice cube, but nothing helped.  After about 10 minutes, when the major pain had somewhat subsided, I manned up for one more bite.  This one wasn’t as bad, but worse as the burn compounded on itself.  At that point, I closed the lid on my sandwich box and planned to not eat anymore of it.

After  about 20 minutes and 3/4 of my 40 of Budweiser, my hunger got the best of me and I considered eating more of my chicken.  I opted to remove the chicken from the bun, which had soaked up much of the hot sauce,  and proceeded to eat the chicken breast on its own.  I made it through half of the boneless breast before I decided it just wasn’t worth continuing.

Like Jackson mentioned, there had been a fair amount of trash talking when we first ordered the chicken.  The guys challenged Richie to make them hurt.  I wasn’t part of that, but I was definitely a victim of the assault that was the Richie’s hot chicken sandwich.