The Great Nashville Hot Chicken Exploration

Sometimes people do and say things that get them into trouble. An example of this might be calling a large, hyper-aggressive football player a “boy” and acting hard when all your toughness is liquid and temporary.

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.”

Thus far I have been negligent in providing my own feedback from the Hot Chicken experiment. Here I will attempt to remedy that, but in an abbreviated fashion. The hot chicken is good for the soul, easy on the pocketbook, and tough on the digestive system.

• 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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