The surface is uneven so they hold a lot of the delicious fried coating with nooks and crannies, and are served with a choice of dipping sauces: blue cheese, ranch or honey mustard, though I strongly recommend skipping the mustard since dairy-based foods are the best antidote to spiciness, and you might well find you need the dressing. Tenders are actually more popular here than regular pieces, and they are very good, real chicken cut into big thick strips, not “fingers” or chopped patty-style tenders. Hattie B’s offers four levels: mild, medium, hot and “damn hot!” If you want plain old fried chicken with no heat at all, they have that too - it’s called Southern, a reminder that even the mild is “hot chicken.” Real Nashville hot chicken lives up to its name, and this is one of the spicier foods Great American Bites has encountered, so I recommend going one level below whatever instinct tells you to order. Here it is served as either tenders or bone-in chicken pieces, always atop white bread and with pickles, as per local tradition. In some cases, like at Hattie B’s, you get a threatening paste on the outside at the hottest levels, like a dark red version of jerk chicken seasoning. Hot fried chicken generally has an evil reddish tint, and as you go up the heat scale, it turns a dark, disconcerting reddish-brown, like a brick. Today each place has a secret recipe, and the thing about this dish is that it is not just fried chicken covered in hot sauce, it is chicken marinated in a hot paste or sauce, then the breading is also spiced. So it’s not just a surface heat, like with Buffalo wings, instead it permeates the chicken itself, though the breading is the hottest part. But instead of shock and disgust, he loved it, and decided to serve it. The food: Legend has it that Nashville hot chicken was born at Prince’s when the current owner’s uncle, a lady’s man, angered his girlfriend so much with his flirtations that she took revenge by spiking his chicken with fiery additives. Reason to visit: Nashville hot chicken, peach cobbler restaurant has the same worn barnboard wall trim and metal-topped tables, but is a much more modern space with more of a fast-food chain look - and the same great food. The midtown Nashville location is about half the size in terms of seating capacity and much smaller inside, with tables mostly outdoors. However, despite the size, it is very popular and often has a long line, especially for weekend lunch, which spills uncovered into the sun or rain and can last for more than an hour. There are several outdoor tables off the back room on a synthetic grass surface. It’s a family-owned eatery headed by a father and son team, with a bustling, collegial atmosphere hosting lots of regulars, locals and tourists, and it’s fun, with friendly service. Walls are white painted cinder block, ceiling fans whirl overhead, and food is served in plastic baskets lined with red and white checkered paper. The entire space is filled with picnic tables covered in thin metal sheeting for easy clean up, shared when necessary (which is usually) and each is equipped with a roll of paper towels and basket of condiments. It looks sort of like an old auto body shop but was a Krystal’s fast-food restaurant, with the rear wall blown out and replaced by a glass sliding garage-style door, with an extra room added to the back so that the former drive-through window is now in the second dining room. You order at a counter from the menu board above, then take a number and wait until your food is ready. The West Nashville location is the main one, and strikes the perfect balance between “shack” and restaurant. It has a broader menu than many competitors, restaurants are bigger and seat a lot of people, and there's a fun vibe. This column visited the roots of Nashville Hot chicken several years ago, and while the old time classic spots, most notably Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack and Bolton’s Spicy Chicken & Fish, are still great, there is a lot of to be said for relative newcomer (just under five years) Hattie B’s.
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But Nashville is still the one spot where its namesake dish is widespread, beloved and done very well - it’s the place to try it.
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Then it was discovered by hipsters who took it to places like Brooklyn, then by mass marketers who took it - at least in name - nationwide at Kentucky Fried Chicken. The scene: Until about three years ago, hot chicken was pretty much just a Nashville thing, one of the most hyper-specialized regional foods in this country. View Gallery: Hattie B's has hot chicken and delicious dessert