It was a long path for me to arrive before a plate of Nashville style hot chicken. Whatever path you take in life to get here enjoy the destination.
I grew up eating Southern food prepared by my grandmother in the style of the Ozark mountains. I moved around a lot and lived in Washington, D.C., New York, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Chicago, and most recently Los Angeles. It was in a recent L.A. Weekly article that I learned such a thing as Nashville Hot Chicken existed. I immediately craved it and begin hatching a plan to get to Nashville. Imagine my surprise when my first plate of Nashville style hot chicken presented itself to me in Cleveland thanks to an article on the top hottest restaurants in Cleveland published in December 2015 that said Chow Chow was worth it's hog fat in Southern cuisine.
I boldly ordered the dish extra hot clarifying that I like my Indian and Thai food spicy. I demurred and deferred to accepting it hot after being warned that a couple recently made a similar claim and then after trying the regular hot said if what they meant by spicy was a 5 on a 10 point scale, this hot chicken was a 7. I also ordered the hot, not extra hot, and heartily agree.
It was delicious and unique, but I had to pace bites 60 seconds apart to let my mouth cool off before the next assault. It was intense, but still flavorful. It did not devolve into the tongue numbing Scoville Scorcher torture of your irreverent Ghost Pepper hot sauces.
You'll want the sweet tea to help soothe your lips and mouth after each bite as you work your way through the plump bone in chicken breast.
Chow Chow doesn't serve alcohol as they want to focus on the food. However they will refer you to Richland Bar down the block which allows outside food. So you can get your Nashville style hot chicken on white bread with coleslaw in one styrofoam container and your hush puppies in another and walk your way to your watering hole which exactly what I did.
Let me warn you that beer only makes the flames rise higher, so bring a cup of sweet tea with you to protect your mouth.