I absolutely love Nashville Hot Chicken. So naturally when I was visiting Nashville, I had to get their namesake dish. There are many places I have been to plus more I haven’t even tried yet. However, since this visit was a short one, I just focused in on Hattie B’s. I have been there many times and knew they would not disappoint.
I ordered the chicken breast meal with a medium heat. Don’t let the word medium fool you, this is still pretty spicy. I can’t do much hotter than this for right now. The chicken is fried up so that the skin and breading is extra crispy. This allows the juices to stay locked in. The heat is contained in the breading and the extra seasoning they sprinkle on top once the chicken has completed cooking. The heat hits you as soon as you take a bite. But it does cool down after that, at least until you take another bite.
During this visit I ordered a couple of extra sides to try. Normally I get the mac and cheese and this visit was no exception. It is wonderfully creamy. The cheese can help tame down the burning sensation caused by the heat of the chicken.
Another side I tried was the cheesy grits. This is a true Southern dish. Normally I get these for breakfast. They were a salty treat for lunch too. The creaminess also helped tame the heat.
The baked beans were sweet. Normally served with BBQ, it was a nice complement to the chicken. It almost acted like a dessert because of the sweetness.
The last side was the black-eyed peas. I customarily have these on New Years Day for good luck. To have them here was a surprise. They were cooked flawlessly. There was ab immensely savory flavor that was perfect with the spicy chicken.
All of these sides really helped make the hot chicken a complete meal.
If you have never tried hot chicken, Hattie B’s is the perfect place to try it. However, if hot, spicy food is not your thing it is ok., they do offer their fried chicken with no heat. The chicken is just as good that way too.
They have a couple of location and starting to open outside of Tennessee so check them out at www.hattieb.com
Enjoy!
T
