The Hot Chicken Weekend, March 27-29

Friday morning and ready to start this long, finger-licking weekend. The plan: My wife and I along with our three girls are headed to Nashville a day ahead of hot chicken. Joe and his family plan on meeting Saturday and the party will begin. So Friday consists of swimming with the girls and a dinner at the uber kid friendly Rain Forest Café. Saturday. Overcast. Drizzle. Fitting, I think, for what we are about to put our bodies through. Meet at Prince's when they open, 11:00, head to 400° then maybe a tour of downtown Nashville before finally ending day one at Bolton's. Great plan but we didn't account for the fact that Nashville is an hour behind us. All right, meet at the hotel, check-in and we're off. Got the route mapped out. Pull in to the Prince's parking lot at 11:05, there may be a wait for the chicken we've heard. Sometime upwards of an hour or more so our thinking is we get there early, secure our birds before the crowds begin to line up.

Prince's is closed! Open at 2:00 the hand-written paper plate sign says in the window...wish I had gotten that picture. We are not deterred. 400° is next on the list so off we go. A slight direction miscue leads us up I-40 into Nashville where we have to make a quick exit and u-turn back onto the expressway to find I-65 and 400°. Only later did we realize we were a mere 1/4 mile away from Bolton's, which was open and ready to fry. But backtrack we did. Rosa Parks Blvd., past the capitol, past an exorbitant number of wig/nail/cellphone salons. 400° is closed!! Open at 12:00 and it's only 11:20. Guy next door asks if we're looking for some chicken. Of course. It's why we're here. It's the purpose of this trip. Denied again. Off to Bolton's.

Bolton's: Calling Bolton's a hole-in-the-wall type of place would be a disservice to the hole. Bars on the windows give it the appearance of a cheap, very small pawnshop or maybe a dilapidated old bail bondsman storefront. I can imagine it filled with old guitars, mandolins, etc. from aspiring "Next Big Things" that never were. Nice, so the chicken can't help but be good. Pink walls, that's all I need to say about that. The sign on the big, pink door was my favorite, and I remembered to get a picture this time. "Please knock when you are ready to order." Chicken and catfish are the specialties here. So we decide what we want then we knock. Oil is heating up and it'll be about 10 minutes before we start cooking he says, so we sit. Two sticky tables and a television playing cartoons is what we need. Good thing too. There's only two tables in the joint and luckily we're the only ones here. Our order, two breast quarter meals for my wife and me and a chicken on a stick for the girls. Sides of macaroni and coleslaw. I think it's a law in hot chicken country that all chicken must be served with two slices of white bread and some kosher dill slices. The pickles to cut the heat I assume and the bread, not so much to eat I think...although it is very tasty, but to sop up the hot oil and sauce. Hot chicken it seems is made to order so it generally takes about 30 minutes to receive it. Joe had ordered the wings and a side of greens. After tasting the greens I too ordered a side. My wife and I are frequent travelers to the Hilton Head and Savannah area. In Savannah there is an old restaurant called "The Pirate House" that serves great pecan fried chicken, macaroni, dumplings, etc. but the real reason to go there is for the greens. Best I have ever tasted so other greens usually fall by the wayside. Not these. I have a new "Best place for southern style turnip greens" and it's Bolton's Spicy Chicken and Fish in Nashville, Tennessee. Now the chicken: The cook, I never did get his name, asked us how hot we wanted our hot chicken. I'll admit I am a wuss when it comes to spicy things. My research had indicated that the hot would be way too hot for most anyone and was best to be avoided. The medium was the way to go if you liked it very spicy so naturally I went mild. A medium sized breast, dark orange with the spicy concoction it was slathered in was brought to the table in a Styrofoam container along with my sides. The chicken was hot. Not from the spice, that would surely come when I could actually pick up the breast, but from the fact that this chicken was fresh. Fresh out of the fryer and into the container. Hot and steaming. The look of a perfect pizza hot out of the oven ready to grab a slice but knowing full well you would like to retain a major portion of your bottom lip and tongue so you wait. Seems a tongue is a useful piece of equipment in the chefing business and I need to keep it intact. Wait I did. All of about 1 minute before the suspense got the better of me. It was juicy, hot, spicy, salty, everything I hoped for but didn't really expect. Must-have restaurant items have a way of letting you down. I don't know, maybe the buildup, the expectation of it all makes for a bar that cannot be reached by most. You read or hear so much about "____" that it can never be really as good as it sounds. Few places live up to the grandiose expectations I sometime conjure. Bolton's is one of those few.

Bolton's Extras: Both of the gentlemen we encountered at Bolton's were very friendly. Gracious in the receiving of our praise for their creations and more than willing to pose for a photo. At one point I had to make a trip out to my car and the cook even came out of the smoky kitchen to tell me I had left my lights on. How can you not love this place?

Bolton's Spicy Chicken and Fish
624 Main Street
Nashville, Tennessee

Next week...400° and a storm.