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| - There is a lot of buzz about this place, especially given its feature on the Food Network. Having lived in New Orleans for some time, I was both curious and eager to give HSW a try. (New Orleans is famous for some of its fried/comfort foods.)
The Bottom Line: this place is rather magical. If you love fried food that is slathered in hot sauce, then this is your place. To be honest, the fried food offers a one-dimensional taste experience; however, the food presentation is beautiful...in an ordered-chaos sort of way.
There's a menu, but you pretty much just get whatever they have available (I.e., whatever is sitting in the warmers behind the counter). I tried the fried chicken and the famous Polish Boy sandwich -- a fried kielbasa topped with coleslaw, fries, and hot sauce. I also "sauced" everything, allowing the kind worker to paint all of my food with the ever-so-sweet-tangy-and-delicious HSW hot sauce. The food was hot, and amazingly, the chicken was as crispy/tasty as some of the famous fried chicken of New Orleans' Willie Mae's Scotch House and Dooky Chase. (Huge success!)
The decor is the best part of HSW. The restaurant is appears to be a bit rundown, ostensibly dirty, and some of the windows are adorned with iron bars/mesh for safety purposes. While this may seem to be a negative, it is not. These details, coupled with the ambiance of the restaurant's neighborhood, offer the adventurous and hungry an authentic City of Cleveland dining experience.
Grade: A
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