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WICKER PARK — When Hattie B’s Hot Chicken of Nashville, Tenn., announced it would bring its famous hot chicken to Wicker Park for one day next month, Chicago fans rejoiced.
So much so, Hattie B’s decided to extend its hours and offer take-out orders during its one-day Chicago pop-up.
The pop-up will now be 8 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22 at Dove’s Luncheonette, 1545 N. Damen Ave. (Hours were previously 3-9 p.m.)
Hattie B’s will also be taking over Big Star’s to-go window on the North side of the taco restaurant’s patio. From 12-10 p.m., customers can order take-out chicken sandwiches.
The Dove’s pop-up will serve the $12 Hattie B’s Classic Nashville Hot Chicken Plate, which includes a choice of jumbo wings or “jumbo jambos” (drumstick lollipops), Hattie B’s southern greens, Dove’s pimento mac and cheese, white bread, pickles and Nashville Comeback Sauce.
The pop-up will also serve a $10 Hattie B’s Chicken Sandwich, which comes with cole slaw, Nashville Comeback Sauce, a pickles and chips.
If you’re new to Nashville chicken, here’s its origin story.
As legend has it, Nashville hot, which dates back to the 1930s, owes its origins to Thornton Prince, owner of a fried chicken restaurant.
Prince didn’t invent the recipe — he was just the first to eat it, and he was supposed to hate it.
As Jane and Michael Stern, writing in Saveur, tell the tale: Prince “had a lady friend so irritated by his carousing that early one morning, upon his return from who-knows-where, she served him a plate of chicken with enough pepper punch to drop his sorry ass. But the booby-trapped bird backfired: Mr. Prince liked it. He liked it so much that he put it on his menu.”
Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack is still mecca for fans of the fiery dish, but Hattie B’s has been attracting big crowds since the family-owned business opened in 2012.
Not free on Sept. 22? Don’t fret. Fry the Coop, a Nashville-style fried chicken restaurant, is coming to West Town this fall.
RELATED: Nashville Hot Chicken Spot ‘Fry The Coop’ Opening In West Town This Fall
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