So, at the end of our last adventure in Nashville, when we were checking out some of the many outstanding culinary options, I left you with a little honorable mention cliff hanger: “There’s one more excellent Nashville restaurant to talk about, but its backstory and menu really warrant its own feature. It’s just that good. I’ll give you a little hint: The Colonel’s got nuthin’ on this place!”
Now I know everyone has his or her own gastronomic palates and preferences, ranging from fast food to homemade bistro fare, chain restaurants, high-end establishments and everything in between. And in an attempt to not diss any one of the aforementioned, I will say that it somewhat ruffles my feathers (you’ll get my pun in a second) when a big company takes a local or regional specialty, mass markets it and tries to call it their own.
This is the circumstance around hot chicken. But once you understand the history, you’ll see why one of the best places to enjoy it is at Hattie B’s.
BACK IN THE DAY
The Bishop family knows cooking. They’ve had lots of experience, dating back to the 1940s, when Gene Bishop started working for the Morrison’s Cafeteria chain in Mobile, Ala. Over 50 years, he held almost every position, retiring as its CEO in the 1990s. During that time, there were several successful spin-off companies.
Bishops sons—Gene Jr., Tim and Nick—also worked there. Gene Jr. owns Bishop’s Southern Tradition in Mobile and brother Tim owns Bishop’s Homestyle Cooking in Dothan, Ala. Other Bishop family restaurant forays include Ruby Tuesdays, purchased when the chain numbered only 15 restaurants. It now numbers more than 800 restaurants.
Nick spent 21 years with Morrison’s, eventually opening a new family place—Bishop’s Meat ‘N Three in Franklin, Tenn. (12 miles south of Nashville)—serving affordable Southern comfort food. It was here that they started perfecting their hot chicken recipes, a distinctive deep-fried specialty with varying levels of heat.
But Nick is quick to point out that his family did not originate the “genre,” instead putting their own unique spin on this 1930s staple of Nashville’s Black neighborhoods, created by a man named Thornton Prince of today’s Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack.
The Bishop family history is still being written.
WHO’S YOUR HATTIE?
Enter Hattie B’s. The original opened in downtown Nashville in 2012, right on the cusp of Nashville’s rebirth to the rest of the world as a city with a rich history and culture that goes far beyond country music.
The restaurant is named in honor of Hattie Melba Bishop, Nick’s mother, and Hattie Bright, the young daughter of Nick Jr., who also works in the family business. One of Nick Sr.’s sons-in-law, John Lassiter, is the Hattie B’s executive chef.
As their popularity grew, they decided the close the downtown location and open another one in midtown, just a few blocks from Vanderbilt University. And you know a place must be good when there is a line outside the door, winding its way to the street, well before they open their doors at 11 a.m.!
One of the biggest draws to Hattie B’s is that the food is outstanding and affordable. The ambiance is relaxed and welcoming, and it makes you feel like family.
All of their chicken is fresh and paired with their own spice blends, with heat levels ranging from Southern (no heat) to mild or medium (a touch of burn), hot (feel the heat), damn hot (fire starter) and Shut the cluck up! (burn notice). The last is only approximately 10 percent of their orders. A few brave souls have taken the plunge primarily for bachelor parties, after losing a bet, as a test of resolve and so forth. Make no bones about it. You will need the fire department.
Chicken plate options include a half-bird, breast, wings, thigh and tender combinations with two sides, bread and pickles. The sides are also a distinctive iteration of the old Morrison’s Cafeteria recipes, including pimento mac ‘n cheese (outrageous!), black-eyed pea salad (delicious and designed to cut the chicken heat), Southern greens, baked beans, red-skin potato salad and coleslaw, all made in-house.
The desserts—peach cobbler (in season), banana pudding, root beer or Coke floats and ice cream—round out the focus to stay true to their Southern tradition. They also offer a wide range of beers, a large number coming from local craft breweries, which ties into their mission to support the community and further create a culture of family.
Hattie B’s has been hot! (another pun here won’t hurt you), and they opened a popular second location in 2014 in the Charlotte Pike neighborhood in West Nashville. Here, they converted a former Krystal Burger building into a thriving local hangout that includes an outdoor patio and indoor/outdoor breezeway (the old drive-thru) with picnic tables and a bean-bag toss area.
While dining there, I asked Nick Sr. what he thinks of knock-off, mass market hot chicken (like the one I hinted to at the beginning of this feature). “Places like that will only make us better operators,” he said. “It’s really a brand of hot chicken that’s about Nashville’s roots, and it’s more important to us to have a good piece of chicken first, and all the rest comes later.”
Don’t live in the Nashville area but want to get you some Hattie B’s? You’re in luck because they’re expanding with a new location in Birmingham, Ala. in June, and another in Germantown (a suburb of Memphis, Tenn.) in 2017. Hattie B’s will also have a culinary booth this summer at two festivals—Atlanta Food and Wine (June 2-5) and the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen (June 17-19)—should your travels take you to either of them.
So, if you don’t know hot chicken, or think you know hot chicken, you need to treat your palate at Hattie B’s. No matter what you order, you’re sure to say, “Shut the cluck up!”
Lysa Allman-Baldwin is a freelance writer and the publisher and editor of Amazing Escapades: Adventures for the mind, bod and belly (www.amazingescapades.com). She can be reached at editor@amazingescapades.com.