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Chicken on the Brain

  • Aug 30, 2022
  • 3 min read

My mind can't stop thinking of Dave's Hot Chicken.


One of my friends suggested going to Dave's Hot Chicken, last week so I of course I had to do my research to see what the vibes were. The photos looked immaculate; large chicken tendy's drizzled with sauce and crinkle cut fries on the side.


However, photos can be deceiving, tricks of light and other effects can make things look better than they appear (you all know, you're on social media). So, I was weary of how good it could actually be. The menu is also small. There's three main meal options, and 5 or 6 sides. Not a lot to choose from. Again, I was skeptical.


However, the moment I took a bit of that chicken tendy my world changed. I've eaten a lot of tendy's in my day. Almost every weekend in college I ordered buffalo chicken tendy's (no blue cheese, I'll fight you on this), and can't help but get a craving every now and then. Dave's Hot Chicken is unlike any tendy I've had before.


You get to choose your level of hotness, from no spice at all, to reaper (more on that later). I ordered a hot and medium, just in case the hot was too hot. The first bite into that tendy was confusion, then bliss. I'd never had a chicken tender be so crispy and light. It threw me off how spectacular the first bite was, I truly wasn't expecting it.


The seasoning was divine; I usually prefer my chicken coated in sauce, but these were prepared with a dry rub. Whatever the magical wizards at Dave's did to create that rub, I hope I can purchase it in bulk. The hot was just the right amount of heat for me, and the medium was also super tasty. I ordered them as sliders, which came in a potato bun with pickles, coleslaw and Dave's sauce.


My friends being who they are also ordered a reaper tendy. The seasoning is made with the California Reaper pepper, ranked the hottest pepper by Guinness World Records (Guinness World Records, Hottest chili pepper 2017).


To put this in perspective, a jalapeño is about 2,000 to 8,000 Scoville Heat Units. A California Reaper comes in at a whopping 2.2 million Scoville Heat Units.

The actual contract we signed our life away to (JK).

These facts were unbeknownst to us at the time. Even though we should've realized how insanely hot they were after reading the disclaimer that the reaper could cause "harm, including but not limited to, bodily injury, property damage, emotional distress or even death." But c'est la vie, right?


I knew deep in my gut that it was going to be hot. So, I took a teeny, tiny bite, and I started sweating. My body temperature must've risen by a few degrees, because I was hot and my cheeks were flush. The rest of the group also felt the same way, except one brave soul. Somehow he was able to eat at least have of the reaper tendy. He was also sweating and appeared to be shaking at times. Literally no one told him to keep eating. We encouraged him to stop, but the brave soldier plundered on.


Nothing bad happened to him at all, but I was extremely impressed with how much of the reaper chicken he actually ate. I was effected by my miniscule amount, I can't believe what his body endured. Luckily he did have a vanilla milkshake to help cool his palate.


Long story short, skip the reaper pepper. You know it's hot, so don't trouble yourself. If you do read the waiver carefully and order yourself a milkshake to go with it. No matter what please go to Dave's Hot Chicken and get all the chicken tendy's your heart desires, then have one more for me :)



A reaper chicken tender on a slice of bread, with a side of pickles and crinkle cut fries.
A reaper chicken tendy in it's natural habitat.

Sources

Guinness Book of World Records. (n.d.). Hottest chilli pepper. Guinness World Records. Retrieved August 26, 2022, from https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/hottest-chili



T.B., J. (2022, May 3). Hottest peppers in the world. Grow Hot Peppers. Retrieved August 26, 2022, from https://growhotpeppers.com/hottest-peppers/









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