Doing further research into this clandestine loccation, The Scoreboard appears to have been flying under our radar for quite some time. According to Roadfood.com forums, The Scoreboard had been  “preparing a Nashville-style hot chicken for a few months” as of July 2007.  Follow the preceding link for lengthy discussion and pics.

Of course, this means that the Nashville Hot Chicken team will be heading over to The Scoreboard as soon as humanly possibly to try their rendition hot chicken. Check back soon for a full review and details.

Attending the recent Music City Hot Chicken Festival, I was curious to try out Murfreesboro’s much touted hot chicken restaurant, The Chicken Shack. A full write-up of the festival is to come, but I thought I would first make comment on the restaurants and food which are always the primary focus of this blog.

The Chicken Shack is not technically in Nashville, which is why it was not previously included in our exploration. However, as they made the trip to the Music City Hot Chicken Festival carting a deep fryer, tent, and myriad heat-augmenting ingredients, I believe the NashvilleHotChicken.com team may have to hit the road soon. In any case, they were in Nashville for a day and so are now a part of Nashville Hot Chicken.

If swagger counts for anything, The Chicken Shack at least sounds like the best hot chicken in town. Lingering behind the tent trying to glean as much information as I could about their chicken, I had the good fortune of witnessing the festival judges taste testing The Chicken Shack’s best. Kenyatta Pumphrey, the owner of The Chicken Shack, prefaced the judges’ tasting by asking if they wanted the best chicken at the festival or the hottest, stating that both were available.

The “best” chicken I think will always be subject to conjecture, but I think after tasting The Shack’s “Iron Mike Death Row”chicken even I might stand behind Kenyatta and John (the other half of the The Chicken Shack’s culinary duo) saying they’ve got the hottest on lock down.

I hope you’re wondering, “Iron Mike Death Row–is that really a flavor?” as I did. Belying it’s strong name, the chicken looks very tasty and appealing. Looks however can be deceiving. After placing my order, an older gentleman asked the teenager taking orders what “Iron Mike” was like.

The teen replied simply, “Oh, you really don’t want that.”

I, however, had already ordered my basket of six wings and was prepared to take on whatever that meant.

I bought two 20 oz. bottles of water and found a shady place to eat my chicken. My tidy little cardboard box contained six large wings, very unlike the massive chicken breast quarters that you find at Bolton’s or Prince’s. The Shack was scaling down their menu for the festival.

I lifted the first wing to my mouth. The first bite revealed a good bit of heat and an excellent flavor: lots of spices, saltiness, and fair moistness for fried wings. I paused for a moment to savor the chicken (which was almost too hot to eat, having come out of the fryer only a few moments before). That pause was both the smartest and dumbest thing I had done all day.

This is the look of what I bit into. It looked to me like standard fare, seasoned fried chicken.  I should have known by the pungency of the scent that I was in store for much more.

You may note in the photo above that there are some darker patches on the surface of the chicken. Prying John and Kenyatta for information behind the scenes I found out that their seasoning includes a spice called African Bird Pepper (among many other things which they kept very mum about).

Rather than beat around the bush any further, I will say simply that, second only to Richie’s villainy the night we stopped there, The Chicken Shack has the hottest chicken I have ever eaten. I don’t say that as a clear endorsement though, because eating Iron Mike Death Row really is more like an endurance challenge than an enjoyable dining experience. Compared to Prince’s Extra Hot, Iron Mike Death Row wings are hotter at the peak of the heat and much, much, much longer lasting.

I sat in meditative silence for something like five minutes trying to come to grips with the intensity of the heat on my lips and in my mouth before giving up and making a quick walk over the the Farmer’s Market Watermelon booth. A donation and slice selection later I was feeling a bit of relief, though I have to say there was still a period of heat, not unlike a nuclear half-life where, though diminished by a factor, the heat was still very intense. Something like twenty minutes later I finally found myself able to talk and smile as I was before.

To Kenyatta and John–you’re evil, evil geniuses.

For those of you whom I’ve scared away from Iron Mike (or for those of you like me who will never eat it again unless forced at gunpoint), The Chicken Shack actually has delicious flavors that don’t veer into the gray area of cruel and unusual. Their “Slap Yo’ Mama” chicken (a clear reference to Friday After Next with Ice Cube) is a serious contender for best hot chicken you can eat. Unlike many of the places you will eat hot chicken, The Chicken Shack’s offerings all look like the yummy fried chicken you might recall from childhood. Chicken from places like Bolton’s or Prince’s can be a bit intimidating to a first timer, but The Chicken Shack offers familiar golden brown chicken with a kick as strong as your own boldness will lead you to attempt.

In the weeks to come, NashvilleHotChicken.com will be making a road trip to The Chicken Shack to try their fare in its native environment. Until then, look for a full write up of the Music City Hot Chicken Festival. And for the sake of your taste buds, remember what Kenyatta says about his hottest concoction–a bout with Iron Mike and in “45 seconds, you’re on the ropes.”

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.

Also in this category is going into a hot chicken place you have never visited and know nothing about, asking the owner to make you some really hot chicken.

We entered Richie’s as a gang of mouths and stomachs, full of alacrity for the hotness. We said to Richie, “Richie, make it hot.” And, we didn’t stop there. We kept at it at least two or three other times, asking for hot chicken.

The video below shows our candid responses to what we got: the hottest chicken most of us had ever tasted. Warning: If a few swear words will cripple your soul, please don’t watch the video.

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I take partial responsibility for the merciless taste bud assault we suffered. When I contacted Richie’s initially to scope the place out, I was surprised to hear him somewhat confused by my reference to “hot chicken.” I asked him initially if they have “hot chicken” and his response was more or less, “Um… yes, we have chicken that’s very spicy.” Very spicy? What does that mean? If he doesn’t know what hot chicken is, he must not know what hot means either, I thought.

I could not have been more wrong.

As we returned with our eats and drinks to begin devouring, Dale–the most adventurous of us–started by licking the knife included with his dinner. This knife had only touched the exterior of the chicken. Dale coughed, swore, and sat still for several minutes gulping down his drink of choice. Did the rest of us heed his warning? Of course not.

A departure from our normal leg or breast quarter, Richie’s makes boneless, skinless chicken sandwiches of various types. Ranging from plain to ultimate supreme to Cajun, we sampled a broad gamut of what Richie’s has to offer.

I wish I could tell you how my sandwich tasted. Included below is what the inside of Steven’s sandwich looked like. You might not want to leave this page up very long though, as even the photo might burn your screen.

Notice the thoroughly soaked bun–on both sides. That dark brown-red textured object to the left of the cheese and onions is the chicken. Relating back to the chicken’s taste, aside from the briefest hint of sweet bun and tomato, the only flavor that was perceptible in this chicken was that of pain. As we began eating, the discussion revolved around how we each thought our first bite could well be the last we take. Yet, amid tears, groans, sighs, and quiet moments of inward panic we forged on. Our beer proved only a tasty placebo against Richie’s hotness. By the end of the meal, almost half of the chicken purchased was tucked away and the other half evacuated from our sight and eating area so as to prevent any living thing from ingesting it either intentionally or by accident.

Do I blame or pan Richie for giving us food that was only narrowly edible? I don’t think so. Richie is the first cook from whom we’ve received chicken that completely trumped our expectations of heat and pain. We went in confident, bold even. We were each an Achilles of hot chicken. As it turns out, Richie’s hell sauce is ankle-piercing. So, where does this leave us with Richie’s? My full intention is to go back and give a normal level of heat a try. I think our jaunt last night was eye opening because it showed us that there is a point at which heat is neither enjoyable nor tolerable.

For your pleasure and our remembrance, here are some photos of what may be known from now on “The Richie’s Face.”

• Prince’s Hot Chicken - This place pretty much sets the bar for atmosphere, food quality, and hot chicken experience. This is mainly by virtue of being the place the most locals swear by. We have found the heat to be inconsistent, but the chicken quite tasty. And visiting the establishment is just uncomfortable enough to add to the experience. The potato salad was pretty standard fare, but was definitely satisfactory. With a low health inspection score, multiple circa 80s TVs, and a broken air conditioner, Prince’s definitely has a lot of character. I will be going back there again. A bonus is that they are open until about 4am everyday.
• Bolton’s Hot Chicken and Fish - This place was awesome. The taste and quality of the food completely blew away the bar set by Prince’s. Tasty chicken and a perfect amount of heat. The potato salad left a little to be desired, but the name is “Hot Chicken and Fish”… not “Potato Salad”. Bolton’s is also much more convenient being just across the river in east Nashville. The Bolton’s experience was a great one, and they will certainly get return visits.
• 400 Degrees - This place had the sketchy part of town going for it, but the chicken was sub par. Not only was the quarter of dark meat kinda smallish and not really filling, but it appeared to be fried chicken that was dipped in a liquid batter of cayenne pepper and then flash fried a second time. 400 degrees also appears to deep fry their hot chicken instead of pan-frying. Whereas usually the outer skin and fryings are often the most flavorful part of the chicken, in this case, the outer shell was caked with cayenne pepper, which was not only pretty freakin’ hot, but also tasted pretty bad and had a texture that was even worse. I ate the chicken, but not much of the outer layer. Nice try 400 degrees, but I wasn’t impressed by the execution of it. On the other hand, the burgers coming out of that place smelled awesome. May go back for a burger or pork chop, but not for hot chicken.

We have been to one more place, but I will wait until the full review with pictures and such has been posted. I will say that it was the most painful location yet.

Located next to a discount tire store and a gas station whose many cases are filled mostly with high-volume beer containers, our third stop on the exploration is 400 Degrees Soul Food and More. Arriving at around 7:00 P.M., we enter 400 Degrees to find ourselves the only people inside the restaurant. While waiting, one of the cooks mentioned to us that it might be smart to call-in our order next time.

Call-in? Do we look like call-in people? We want to take in the entire process not just a measly five minutes waiting in the lobby. Maybe when the exploration has ended and we’re a pack of seasoned chicken veterans we’ll call it in. Until then, look out restaurants! We’re a mob of hungry men bound for your lobby or dining area to loiter until our hot chicken is ready.

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Back on the chicken note, I am sorry to say that there isn’t much positive to say about the 400 Degrees experience.

Shown above is a sample of the “400 Degree” chicken–the hottest you can order it. Please note the rich color but odd sort of liquidy smooth texture. The video below says it all. To summarize, 400 Degrees’ chicken is a lot of heat shrouding an odd combination of flavors (that do not sum to something enjoyable) shrouding some run-of-the-mill chicken. Perhaps our review is skewed after having tried both Prince’s and Bolton’s hot chicken, both of which are preeminent in the Nashville scene, but not one of us attempting 400 Degrees’ felt it was on par with what we have found elsewhere.

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Mysterious, the only one of us to try the “200 Degree” chicken found it to be decent, which leads me to believe that the “400 Degree” chicken is just a double-dipped version of the “200 Degree,” an extra step that perhaps adds more heat but definitely not more flavor. While one may say that having a heat-level that is redeeming is good for 400 Degrees as a restaurant, I am inclined to believe that if you run a hot chicken establishment and your hottest chicken is not also your best chicken, then you should reevaluate your priorities. Then again, I am one of this crazy lot out to burn numb our taste buds and punish our digestive systems with the most caustic poultry available.

You’ll see here how the wet-sand-like spicy coating rubs off on the bread. Unlike Prince’s whose bread soaks up the extra grease and spicy run-off from the chicken, the 400 Degrees’ bread is more like a mat or wipe scraping off the excess. While not completely awful tasting, I feel I must report that the exterior of the chicken had a flavor that was, to me, not unlike the smell of a hamster cage. Edible, but curious.

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Do not attempt to correct the color of your screen. This image you are seeing was taken under calibrated white balance with a very sharp lens. The chicken you see is exactly as the chicken appeared moments before we began devouring it. Bravely (stupidly?), I chose to take on what the proprietor of Bolton’s called “Lava Hot.” Though I will admit that the chicken was extremely hot, I am happy to include there was no shortage of flavor. As we ate, the conclusion was mutually arrived at that the chicken must have been brined.

I am about to make a strong statement: Bolton’s is better chicken than Prince’s. There are many who will post counterarguments, but having eaten Prince’s fare three times at three different times of the day and night, I can say that our one trip to Bolton’s around 7:30 P.M. yielded better, tastier chicken with more flavor in the meat and no shortage whatever of heat. In fact, enjoying my breast quarter, baked beans & cole slaw (both of which were very mediocre), and hot water cornbread I experience moments of zen and moments of strong discomfort due to the heat. After all, the lava hotness is not inappropriately named.

To further my argument that Prince’s cannot hold a candle to Bolton’s I will submit the following factors: 1) Bolton’s service was very friendly and inviting, a factor that Prince’s has been lauded for showing the opposite. 2) There was no line, and a relatively short wait for five servings of chicken and only one cook. Prince’s often has three or four cooks and the wait is still long, due to demand rather than inefficiency. 3) The chicken tastes better. While the crispy, succulent, flaming hot exterior of Prince’s is a rare indulgence, Bolton’s chicken does not lag at all in exterior heat and flavor. However, once you reach the heart of the breast quarter on a typical Prince’s portion, you are left with the typical, relatively flavorless (if still piping hot) chicken meat. At Bolton’s the chicken’s meat was flavorful throughout. Even while my mouth was scorching, my lips seared and numb, I was still tasting a somewhat salty, tender, very juicy chicken breast.

And as any true hot chicken lover can attest, the 4th factor is one that both makes and mars the chicken experience: the after-effects. I’ll skip the physiological terminology for the moment and write euphemistically on this issue. If, Prince’s chicken may be seen as a par of very high quality hot chicken, the one thing that makes it difficult to part take of regularly is the ravaging a full portion does to your digestive system. Never once while enjoying Prince’s did I escape an equally flaming trip to the loo. You simply take it in stride, you sweat it (both euphemistically and otherwise), you grip whatever you have handy to grip while moving things along, and you emerge victorious though not unscathed. With Bolton’s however, despite the fact that I undertook the so-called “Lava Hot” chicken, I can say that my post-chicken pit stop was no worse than when I enjoy the mild or medium chicken at Prince’s. How is this possible? I have no idea. Nor do I have any idea why five orders at Bolton’s took 5 individual confirmations from the order taker spaced out through the duration of our visit, the last of which occurring even after some of us had received our chicken.

Digression aside, the fact is that Bolton’s chicken will flame you once and warm you later, where Prince’s will flame you once and more than flame you shortly thereafter. For my money, Bolton’s is the superior establishment.

Where to next? None can say, but check back after Wednesday and we will see where the hot chicken takes us.

A Few Pics from the Bolton’s Experience

As many on the web have noted, Prince’s Hot Chicken is a mainstay of hot chicken goers across the United States. Dubbed “Nashville’s Best Restaurant” by former mayor Phil Bredesen, you can be sure that when you go to Prince’s you can expect hot chicken (both from the spices & pepper and from the serious heat of skillet-frying), a fairly long wait (up to 45 minutes at the longest I’ve waited), and a memorable experience if you’re an average restauranteur.

The only thing I can say against Prince’s, aside from the lack of adequate air conditioning, which is much less a problem now that the weather is changing, is that they are not perfectly consistent in the heat of their chicken. They maintain a high standard for what is “mild,” “medium,” etc. but from visit to visit I find that the hot may be only has hot as the “medium” or the “medium” hot or hotter than the “hot,” depending on your perspective.

All the same, below are some photos & videos of our crew’s last visit to Prince’s–marking our first jaunt into the long and winding path of very hot chicken across the Nashville area (and beyond?).

Prince’s, in our regard, is par. It is the standard against which all of our stops will be judged. If you can beat Prince’s you are a truly exceptional eatery and if you can’t beat Prince’s then no one will fault you a few strokes. Prince’s can be relied on to deliver strong heat and tasty chicken. As you may note in future posts there are locations in town that can claim better taste, but Prince’s also carries the cachet of being a both a staple and a hub of Nashville hot chicken. You cannot, I repeat, cannot attempt to experience Nashville’s hot chicken without a quarter chicken at Prince’s. Medium if you like hot in a restaurant chain, hot if you like the pain, and extra hot if… well, none of us has actually tried it yet. Extra hot if you’d like to venture where few have trodden and all have suffered undoubtedly.