There’s a place called “Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack” that Av and I have been wanting to go to for a long time. We both have a thing for spicy food, and Prince’s is supposed to have *the* hottest chicken anywhere. ANYwhere!
On the Nashville CitySearch, the degrees of hotness there are said to be:
“mild is for those who like “spicy” food; for the neophyte, medium induces sweating; hot is a quasi-religious experience and extra-hot is fine if you have no plans for the next 12 hours.”
What really sealed Av on the idea of going all the way with this hot chicken thing, though, was the Food Issue that came out last year with our subscription to the Oxford American. The piece was written by David Ramsey, and at one point he writes, “…the first bite is like taking a punch, the muscles stiffening and the heart beating fast. You feel like every organ in your body is saying, “What the hell was that?” It’s otherworldly, so fierce you’re ready to make up brand new cuss words because no existing exclamation is sufficient.”
The writer also relates that one customer orders the ‘extra hot’ to go, where he “takes it home, runs a tub full of cold water, and eats his chicken in the bath.”
So…you know it’s hot.
Av got us three orders. One was ‘medium’ heat (this is the one I ate. It was a leg quarter. Plenty hot for anybody. Much hotter than any chicken I’ve ever had.)
Then we got ‘hot’ – Av started with hot and moved up to ‘extra-hot’ (bless his heart). About 2/3 of the way through, he broke through “the wall” and was pretty much able to coast the rest of the way through it.
This is extra hot. And Av ate it! Okay, he didn’t finish it, but he had about half of it (because he had already eaten the ‘hot’ he didn’t have room to finish this one). He loved it. I wonder how many cans of cayenne these people go through on one of these!
He is crazy.
Prince’s is at 123 Ewing Drive in Nashville. If you go, call ahead, because it takes about 30-45 minutes since they make it fresh to order. When you go in, don’t let the counter fool you – you have to go behind the counter to the window to give your order.
And good luck.