Off the Beaten Path: Prince's Hot Chicken, Nashville TN

This particular blog entry is long overdue.

Like...way long overdue.

If this entry had been a library book, I would have owned it by now just in the total cost of overdue fines. (those quarters add up over time)

Every time I have an opportunity to spend the night in Nashville TN, I contact my friend Julie to see what she's up to. Some times we just spend a few hours at a truck stop catching up, talking about whatever, and laughing a lot. Other times...she takes me to new and exciting places! This particular dining adventure was..exciting to say the least.

Now here's my disclaimer for the truck drivers reading this blog: you won't be able to get to Prince's chicken in a truck. I'm very sorry to report that. There's simply no room. No room for a tractor and trailer. Considering how popular Prince's is, there's really no room for a tractor. I'm also not exactly sure if the main drag that this is slightly off of is even a truck route. However, if you have a friend who has a car, or know someone who has a car, or hell, you rent a car! then you'll be fine.

So what's the deal with Prince's Hot Chicken? I mean it was on the Food Network so that means the prices are automatically inflated 20%, right? Maybe, I'm not sure. I don't set the prices, talk to the management. Prince's has a lot of good things going for it. Granted some of it is good in a bad way, and the rest of it is good in a good way. There's just one teensy little detail that might give people hesitation, I know it did for me but Julie assured me we'd be fine. Besides, she's got street cred (I didn't ask to see said credentials, I just took her word on it). So what's that teensy little detail? Well....it's....um....it's in the ghetto.

Don't worry, you're not going to get shot, mugged, carjacked, robbed or have your hubcaps stolen. I mean, Julie and I went around 9/10pm AT NIGHT and we were just fine. Nobody approached us, nobody tried to sell us drugs or fake rolex watches or try to flash us. Her car was still there when we left the restaurant, it wasn't up on 4 cinder blocks with the tires removed.

So why am I making such a big deal out of this? Not everyone is racially accepting, and going somewhere to eat where you're the minority for once can be intimidating to some people. And trust me, you'll be in the minority here. But are you going to let that stand between you and some freaking amazing fried chicken?

I know what you're thinking: "it better be some damn good fried chicken, Liz"
Oh....it is, and I don't usually eat fried chicken.

So where is this place, Liz? Well I'm glad you asked, brave foodie adventurer! The address is: 123 Ewing Dr #3. Nashville TN. Don't ask me for directions, because I have no clue since I wasn't driving. US-41 was the main street. Once you get to Ewing (assuming you're driving...north? whatever up is on the map, lol), turn left and it's in a run down strip mall on the right hand side.

So before we talk about the food, let's talk about the peculiarities of this joint, shall we?

First of all, Prince's is open late. This makes it a God-send to us truck drivers with wonky schedules who have a friend in town who wants to take us there. If you come during the day time, there's a good chance you won't find parking. I mean there is parking in the strip mall but chances are it'll be full...and there may be people parked on the street just to get some of this chicken. Yes, it's that good that people park up and down the street for it.

Second of all, the restaurant itself is...small. In a typical business day for them, they probably violate some capacity code every hour, no, half hour. They have really good chicken and a lot of people want it.

Third of all, the furnishings are....dated. old. run down. beat up. worn. tattered. used. seen-better-days. It's not high class by any means, and that actually adds to the charm of the place. It's very much a hole in the wall. Come to think of it, that's also how you order..at the hole in the wall, but I digress.

Fourth. You're totally safe here. They have an armed off-duty police officer. But don't you dare touch the TV set that he's watching! He also has no qualms about plainly showing that he is in fact packing heat, so don't try any funny business. Besides, we're all here for insanely good chicken, let's just all get along and not try to have a heart attack after eating. (BYONitroglycerin)

Fifth. The window painting out front. It's faded, it's scratched, it looks like it was done in the 70s because, surprise! it was. I'm sure it's lead-based paint, too. But who cares, we're here for chicken, not lead poisoning!

Sixth. This was probably the most surprising to me, but..it kind of wasn't. Prince's is incredibly popular among the Black community (that wasn't the surprising part). As such, it's a popular place where you'll most likely run into people you only kind of know but have seen frequently like from church, or the grocery store, or dropping/picking up your kids from school and you're like "hey I know you, your son is friends with my son!" Or you'll be walking in and standing further up in line could be the pastor from your church. You'll never know who you'll run into at Prince's and that's the community beauty of it: Prince's brings people together.

So I've talked this place up (I hope?), so I guess it's time to mention the food.
The beauty of Prince's is also it's simplicity: it's fried chicken, well here in Nashville it's hot chicken. Hot chicken not only means temperature hot, but also spicy hot. I should make a second disclaimer about the food here: you're going to have to wait for it. All the fried chicken here is made fresh to order. It's not sitting under a heat lamp until you order it. It's cooked fresh, and loyal readers, that makes a world of difference.

As I said, there are degrees of spiciness: mild, medium, hot, extra hot, and ... believe it or not, extra extra hot. I wouldn't recommend the XX hot. In fact I think you actually have to sign a waiver for that one. People have gone to the emergency room over the XX hot chicken. Now is not the time to prove how manly you are, cowboy. I went with the mild, and even mild had a little bit of a zing to it. Julie, I think, ordered medium but she's used to it. She suggested to me that I start with mild. So that's my hot tip for Prince's Hot Chicken: err on the side of caution!

That's my Prince's Hot Chicken mild edition picture showing off a breast and a wing, potato salad, pickles, sweet tea and....the bread. It's not fancy by any means. No expensive plate. No sprig of parsley you're just going to throw out the window (if you're eating in your car...and people do!). No frills. Nothing fancy. Simple and easy.

I'm really not sure if the side dishes are home made or bought from like Sysco or something. Really though, side dishes here are just turn it into a complete the meal. I felt like sweet tea was the ideal compliment to fried chicken (being in the south and all). Julie had some type of fruit punch that I forgot the name of.

What's the purpose of the bread, Liz? Well I'm glad you asked because that, too, is just as important as the chicken it's cradling. The bread itself is dual purpose. It can help calm your burning tongue because it some how makes the burning feeling go away (as does milk, just fyi) and it also soaks up the grease from that freshly fried chicken on top of it. Now you have two options: don't eat the bread because it's nothing but white bread and chicken grease, OR...eat the bread because it soaked up the chicken grease along with some of the spiciness of the chicken as well.

If my cardiologist just so happens to read this, I'll be happy to inform you that I did not eat the grease-soaked bread.

If my cardiologist isn't reading this: I totally ate the bread! It has just enough spices soaked in to give you that reminder zing of heat. For the record, eating the bread is completely optional. Everyone who comes to Prince's has their own stance on the bread issue. Some eat it, some don't. Either way is fine, it's personal preference.

So how was the chicken, Liz? It was....really really good. Surprisingly good. Unbelievably good. Shockingly good, even. I mean..it's fried chicken! You've had it, I've had it. Then you try Prince's and you'll be like "You know, I've had fried chicken before but this....this is something else. How did they improve fried chicken?! They totally took fried chicken and made it better. How is that possible?!"

Okay so maybe that's what I thought.
How....I mean....you just....and they.....how'd they do that?! Is it the spices? Is it the freshness? Is it the batter? How do you take something so simple and basic, that doesn't need to be improved and some how manage to improve it and make it better? It's mind boggling but they did it! I was blown away with how good this was.

Put this place on your bucket list: eat at Prince's Hot Chicken in Nashville TN.

Prince's Hot Chicken: GO THERE! actually go with a friend, it's more fun that way. :)

P.S. I probably should have been referring to it as hot chicken and not fried chicken. I mean, hot chicken has it's own Wikipedia page. So for that I do apologize and ask you not hold it against me.