LEO's Eats with Robin Garr
A white-meat quarter plate at Royals Hot Chicken
Mary took a bite of her Royals hot chicken, and wrinkled her nose.
"What's wrong"? I asked. "Is it too hot? You ordered it mild."
"No," she grumbled. "It's too sweet."
I pried off a slab of the crunchy, crackly reddish-brown crust and tried it. Mm, mm good. It was spicy but not fiery, as ordered. Tastes like chicken. And complex spices, not too hot, as ordered. I didn't pick up any sugar to speak of, other than maybe as one note in a flavor symphony. It was delicious.
She agreed about that. Delicious indeed. And juicy, tender-but-firm chicken, too, not falling-off-the-bone overcooked but textured and fresh. But she just plain doesn't like sweetness in savory dishes. Save it for dessert, says she.
More for the rest of us, say I.
And make no mistake, Royals is good. Located in the quarters vacated a while back by Taco Punk, it's been neatly re-done in simple, basic white - rows of tall tables and stools line the center like a regimental dining hall (with great chicken); large booths with hard, picnic-table-style slatted seats surround the perimeter.
Line up to your right to place your order, get a number to put on your table, and pull your choice of soft drink from a cooler case or self-serve fountain. (An impressive selection of 24 craft-beer taps is coming soon.)
Hot chicken, as you've surely heard, has spread out from its roots in Nashville, where it's such a big deal that the Music City even throws an annual Hot Chicken Festival every Fourth of July. Now going national, the hot chicken craze has spread to Atlanta, New York City, and Portland (of course). And to Louisville, with Joella's and now Royals.
It takes basic Southern fried chicken and ramps up the heat via a combination of brine, dry rub and marinade, yielding a chicken with a bite. This bite, depending on how you order it, may range from a gentle gumming to a firm chomp to the culinary pit-bull mauling that is Royals' "Gonzo," its heat achieved via three of the world's hottest peppers: Carolina reaper, Trinidad scorpion and Indian bhut jolokia ghost peppers.
We got there around noon on a very chilly day, and found about 20 diners ahead of us in line already. ...
Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/?p=5473
See this column also in LEO Weekly:
http://www.leoweekly.com/2016/01/hot-and-hotter-
Royals Hot Chicken
736 E. Market St.
919-7068
http://royalschicken.com
https://facebook.com/RoyalsChicken/
Robin Garr's rating: 90 points
