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    Restaurant Review: Hot Chicken Kitchen

    Hot Chicken Kitchen set up camp for its prototype on Hilliard Rome Road, just spitting distance from a KFC, Chick-Fil-A, and a BW-3. It seems as if the land of the strip mall has it all in the chicken department. Perhaps now, with a fourth poultry joint, there will be enough chicken to satisfy everyone.

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    Of course, the newbie has its own schtick: Nashville Style Hot Chicken. If you’ve ever been to the local Hot Chicken Takeover, you’re familiar with how things work at the operation. You order a chicken meal at a counter, selecting a particular level of spiciness. The chicken is typically served with bread and pickles. For the hungry masses, the suburban version has a little bonus: you don’t have to wait in line with hoards of people for 45 minutes.

    A salad is probably not the optimal way to showcase the Kitchen’s offerings. The Broadway Salad ($9.50) is very fast-foodie, with a little frilly lettuce, diced, fried (or grilled) chicken teamed with mega-compartments of toppings: blue cheese crumbles, candied pecans (the absolute best thing about it), and lots of dried cranberries. There are strawberries too: suspiciously floppy. The salad comes with a couple of pieces of toast and a little baggie of dressing.

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    Instead, a more traditional Hot Chicken Kitchen Meal (pictured at the very top) is a better choice. A combo that’s based on a breast, a leg and some sides ($10.50) is pretty successful. Both the breast and the leg were sizable, certainly bigger than most chicken-chain fare. The breading is super-crunchy and crackly. For the tame crew, you can order fried chicken straight with no heat. The “mild” heat version delivers a faint burn tucked inside the crunchiness. The “traditional hot” comes across as significantly smokier and more cumin-based than the “mild” version, but it isn’t particularly painful. For those who need more heat, there’s a “hottest” option too. The meat in the Kitchen Meal is served stacked on the requisite toast, with briny pickles attached as hats.

    You can also do a Fried Chicken Sandwich ($7.50). You get the toast wrapped around a manageable, crunchy-fried, boneless section of meat with lettuce and tomato. The chicken in both boneless and bone-in forms is defined by its breading more than by what lies beneath.

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    The sandwich and the chicken meals come with sides, which you can also buy individually for $1.75. Both the Collard Greens and the Southern Green Beans (chopped fine) are long-cooked with lots of nice fatty, savory pork products. You either like that sort of thing, or you don’t. Being firmly in the fan-camp of soft veggies, the sides seemed like good options. The clerk recommended Macaroni and Cheese for an additional side, and it was savvy advice. The ramekin arrived stuffed with plump noodles basking in an uncommonly creamy cheese sauce.

    As there’s a Nashville angle to the joint, the background music is mainstream country of the Rascal Flats ilk. All in, the place seems like a decent deal for KFC fans who want to branch out beyond their regular chicken scene.

    Hot Chicken Kitchen can be found at 1844 Hilliard-Rome Road, just a few shopping centers down from the I70 exit.

    For more information, visit www.hcknashvillestyle.com.

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    Miriam Bowers Abbott
    Miriam Bowers Abbotthttps://columbusunderground.com
    Miriam Bowers Abbott is a freelancer contributor to Columbus Underground who reviews restaurants, writes food-centric featurettes and occasionally pens other community journalism pieces.
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