Sunday, August 3, 2008
Hot Chicken!
So many of you (again, possibly 4 readers, right?) might not be aware that Nashville has it’s own food specialty. I’m not quite sure how it started, or who did it first, but it’s hot chicken! I’ve lived here for 2 1/2 years and heard a lot about it, but never tried it. When 4th of July rolled around, instead of heading out of town to visit family like usual, the gas prices plus other circumstances kept me here. I decided it was a fine time to check out the hot chicken at the Hot Chicken Festival!
It’s a sampling of all the different establishments that make hot chicken.
All I knew was the first 500 got free samples. My two favorite words are “free” and “food”. The festival began at noon. To be on the safe side, we got there around 11:30am. Around 11:45am the line started to form. We hopped in line. Very quickly after that, this is what I saw behind me.
We only had to wait about 10 minutes then it was our turn! I was VERY impressed with the size of the samples!
Everything I got, I chose “mild”.
Everything TB got was “hot”. Except for Prince’s. Prince’s has 100 degrees, 200 degrees, & 400 degrees. He got the 200 degrees.
After getting through the line we high-tailed it to the Yazoo beer tent. Thanks to Nashville’s weirdo laws, we had to stay under this crammed tent to drink the beer. I think we paid like $5 and we could drink all we want. I was just excited about the free cups.
Here comes the 200 degrees.
Notice the sweat. It’s not just weather induced.
He completed the challenge barely.
Again, excited about the free cups. I love souvenirs.
The aftermath.
Verdict: I was really surprised that they each had their own distinct flavor, taste, & texture. Some were a very dry rub hot, some were really wet hot, some were sweet hot, and so on… I can’t wait to go try it out at one of the restaurants!