The 5 best hot chicken places in Nashville
Sure, Nashville is known for kindness and hospitality, so it's pretty ironic that the city's signature food — hot chicken — is rooted in a woman's desire to hurt and get back at her ne'er-do-well lover.
That need for revenge has launched a nationwide phenomenon that has tourists rushing to hot chicken shacks all around Music City.
Which ones are the best? Thanks to the Tennessean hot chicken tasting team — Kyleah Dunn, Juan Buitrago, Sandy Mazza, George Walker and celeb chef Maneet Chauhan — we've come up with a list for you.
And Hattie B's ain't on it. More on that later.
5. Bolton's Spicy Chicken and Fish
624 Main St. and 1135 Bell Rd, Antioch
No, Bolton's isn't No. 1 on the list, but it is far and away the hottest of the hot chicken places we tried. Three out of four of us shed a few tears (and we're convinced the only one who didn't, Kyleah Dunn, is a robot).
THE HISTORY OF HOT CHICKEN: How a spurned lover burned millions of mouths
Bolton's, one of the originals in town, is quite self-aware about the heat in their dry rub. A sign near the cash register says, "Please wash your hands before rubbing your eyes or babies!"
This is not a joke, people! OK, well yeah, it is kind of a joke, but seriously, their "hot" is really, really hot, a big step up from its competitors.
And if you can get past that, it's pretty good, too.
4. Party Fowl
Three locations: 8th Avenue South, Donelson and Murfreesboro
To be completely honest, we went in here just to say we went in here, thinking this college-party vibe place couldn't serve seriously good hot chicken.
We were wrong.
First of all, if you like the "hot" part of hot chicken, Party Fowl delivers. It had the second or third hottest chicken of the dozen or so places we visited.
MORE: Hot chicken pâté? Weird ways 'hot chicken' is showing up on menus in Nashville
WHERE TO FIND HOT CHICKEN: A list of hot chicken shacks in the Nashville area
And, it was delicious! Crispy skin and moist inside, there were layers of flavors, different kinds of peppers, and something intriguing we couldn't identify. That flavor turned out to be bacon grease, giving it a uniqueness and complexity that really worked (for us, anyway).
And they've found lots of different ways to incorporate hot chicken into different dishes, with some hits and misses. I mean, hot chicken poutine? Meh. At least they're swinging away.
3. 400 Degrees
3704 Clarksville Pike
For years, 400 Degrees fans followed around owner Aqui Hines' fiery red truck.
Hines grew up eating Prince's hot chicken, and she developed her own version that's tasty, solid and fresh. And now, she has her own store again.
400 DEGREES: The secrets to making great Nashville hot chicken
Hines, who rarely eats anything hotter than medium, strikes nearly the perfect note for 400 Degrees' version of hot, which is "400 degrees."
"It's a good heat," Tennessean hot chicken taster Kyleah Dunn said. "I could eat this and go back to work."
In fact, we did.
2. Prince's Hot Chicken Shack
5814 Nolensville Pike and 5055 Broadway Place
It's the original, the innovator, the OG of hot chicken in Nashville and in the world. It's the kind of place where 18 people are lined up in the cold before it opens for lunch.
It's the kind of place where, even when it opens 10 minutes late, none of the 18 people complain.
It's the kind of place where you wait 30 to 60 minutes for your chicken, and no one complains. (If you're looking for speed, go to the South Nashville location, where we got our food in seven minutes, though it wasn't as hot as the original location's bird.)
The flavors are solid, and the white bread underneath that catches the spicy grease is often the best part.
As is often the case for innovators, competitors come along and improve upon the original — few have done that with hot chicken.
1. Moore's Famous Fried Chicken
115 Walton Ferry Road, Hendersonville
Who knew you could find hot chicken nirvana in a Hendersonville strip mall? We'd never heard of Moore's before several Facebook readers from Sumner County recommended it.
It's easily worth the trip north. The skin is crispy and crunchy, and there are layers of flavors. It starts out with a slow burn and finishes with just a hint of sweetness. What is that sweetness?
"It's love," owner David Moore says. "The secret ingredient is love."
Moore is running a one-man show, and he's constantly running between his fryer and always-ringing phone. It's mostly a take-out place with just a few tables, so be patient if you show up to eat there.
It's worth the wait.
A word on Hattie B's
Yes, we see the long lines at Hattie B's, and we see the thousands of social media posts pledging love for the hot chicken there.
The day we visited the West Nashville location, though, the hot chicken wasn't spicy hot. It wasn't even medium. And the overall quality was just OK.
"Underwhelming," one dejected Tennessean taster said.
Thing is, I've had amazing hot chicken there. But Hattie B's is inconsistent, both in heat level and quality.
Hattie B's often is the gateway hot chicken for the masses, and sometimes, it's excellent. But we'd encourage you to branch out to other places.
Reach Brad Schmitt at brad@tennessean.com or 615-259-8384 or on Twitter @bradschmitt.
Nashville's 5 best everything
This isn't our first foray into ranking our favorite things to eat in Music City. Check out some of our previous top five lists.
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Best Nashville hot chicken: It's not Prince's or Hattie B's
