So you want hotter chicken? Here’s where to find the hot stuff around Fort Worth
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Fort Worth’s best fried chicken
Who serves the best fried chicken? We asked, and you answered. Read about the top three restaurants.
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So you want hotter chicken? Here’s where to find the hot stuff around Fort Worth
It’s amazing that fried chicken is now an international food.
We grew up on Southern-style fried chicken. But we now have extra-spicy Memphis or Nashville hot chicken, California hot chicken, a Texas version and chicken from just about everywhere else.
If you’re not looking for an old-time chicken dinner house like Babe’s, here are a few more recent arrivals serving a much hotter bird:
▪ Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, 1067 W, Magnolia Ave., is the best so far of the Tennessee arrivals. It’ll be a busy destination Saturday during the annual ArtsGoggle street festival.
Gus’s is Memphis-spicy, but it’s not quite the same as the twice-fried “Nashville hot” version. It’s fried in peanut oil and comes out lighter, crunchy and crisp.
Three words to remember at Gus’s: Get. The. Pie.
This might be the westernmost outpost to get Southern-style chess, coconut or chocolate chess pies; 817-927-4693, gusfriedchicken.com.
▪ The Cookshack, 500 University Drive, is the best overall of the “hot chicken” restaurants.
It also has the widest variety, with chicken in five heat levels, tenders, sandwiches, tacos and even three excellent salads. It has everything Chick-fil-A has, plus beer, wine and margaritas.
The Cookshack started here but now has nine locations across Texas. It’s three blocks north of the West Seventh Street-University Drive intersection; 817-367-9151, thecookshack.com.
▪ Hattie B’s, 3000 Main St., Dallas, is the most famous of the “Nashville hot” arrivals.
It serves oversized chicken platters, tenders and sandwiches in six levels including “shut the cluck up,” plus wings and family dinners.
Expect a wait; 469-425-8100, hattieb.com.
Also from Nashville: Helen’s Hot Chicken, 2812 Horne St., Fort Worth, Store Locator | Helen’s Hot Chicken in Tennessee, USA (helenshotchicken.com); and Ricky’s Hot Chicken, 3810 S. Cooper St., Arlington, rickyshotchicken.com.
▪ Dave’s Hot Chicken, now open near TCU at 3105 Cockrell Ave. along with a Cityview Centre location, 4608 Bryant Irvin Road, is a California hot chicken chain.
It serves tenders, sliders and fries in seven heat levels, including “Reaper.”
The new TCU location has a walk-up window; 682-350-3566, daveshotchicken.com.
(Rule the Roost, 6635 Westworth Blvd., is also from California.)
▪ Red Claws Crab Shack, 5278 S. Hulen St., Fort Worth, and 4629 S. Cooper St., Arlington, leads the list of Cajun seafood and crab boil restaurants that also specialize in Nashville hot chicken.
It’s great, but Red Claws’ huge crowds mostly come for the crab and crawfish boil. Take your pick; redclawshotchicken.com.
This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 1:20 PM.
