Great American Bites: Scorching 'hot' fried chicken in Nashville

Nov. 6, 2011— -- The scene: There are a lot of unique regional foods in this country, but few as hyper-specialized as Nashville's "hot chicken." After all, just a few hours separate Tennessee's capital from one of the world capitals of all things barbecue, Memphis. Yet in Nashville, smoked pork plays second fiddle to this poultry dish you can find virtually nowhere else - even in Tennessee (though a less spicy version has appeared under the Nashville name at Peaches, in New York's Brooklyn).

Nashville even has an annual hot-chicken festival, but the entries are mostly homemade, since hot chicken is very much a family-kitchen tradition. Unlike other regional specialties I have encountered, including toasted ravioli in St. Louis and loose-meat sandwiches in the Midwest, hot chicken is not on bar and restaurant menus throughout the city. You pretty much have to go to someone's home or a hot chicken shack for it, and of the latter, there are only four major examples in the city.

Shack is a fairly apt description, especially for Bolton's, which is on the side of the road in a cinder block bunker with several incongruous additions. Prince's, the most famous of them all, has a shack-like feel inside, but is actually in a non-descript strip mall. 400 Degrees, I am told by someone from the visitor's bureau, "was the shackiest of them all," but recently moved into one of those modern multi-fast-food complexes that resemble a mall food court, a rather sterile setting next to a Quiznos. The upside is that it is the only hot chicken place in touristy downtown Nashville. The fourth, Pepperfire, is another true shack in the Bolton's tradition - though it takes online orders - but during my recent visit, my mouth was simply too burnt out for a fourth hot fried chicken meal (if any readers have been there, please share your review in comments below).

Reason to visit: Hot fried chicken, bragging rights.

The food: Prince's is the best known, especially after appearances on cable TV's Man vs. Food and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. It is also considered the birthplace of the genre -- legend has it that the current owner's uncle, who was a ladies man, angered his girlfriend with his dalliances to the point where she took revenge by spiking his fried chicken with fiery additives. As fate would have it, he loved it, and hot chicken was born. 30 years later, his niece runs Prince's. The eatery serves most of its food to go, since there are only 7 tables. You order at a window, cash only, with a very limited menu of chicken and a handful of sides: fries, beans, cold slaw and potato salad, along with extra pickle and extra bread options, since all chicken is served atop white bread and topped with pickles.

Like the other places, chicken comes in four flavors, mild, medium, hot and extra-hot, but this scale is relative, since they all refer to hot chicken. So even the mild is hot, and I had been warned by locals that anything beyond medium was a risk to my digestion. One of the Prince's family confirmed this: "I try to talk people down from hot and extra-hot all the time. It's not just the sweating while you eat it - it is 24-hour chicken. It doesn't leave you right away, and even if you get it down, sometime around midnight it will catch up with you." I was also repeatedly warned during my visit not to touch my eyes or face while eating, which apparently happens with frightening regularity and is akin to getting sprayed with mace.