In 2017, four friends scraped together $900, bought a portable fryer and started serving hot chicken from an East Hollywood parking lot pop-up. Dave Kopushyan, Arman Oganesyan, Tommy Rubenyan and Gary Rubenyan soon turned that modest setup into Dave’s Hot Chicken, a fast-casual chain with a celebrity glow-up. Over the next several years, investors included movie producer John Davis, Wetzel’s Pretzels co-founder Bill Phelps, rapper and singer Drake, actor Samuel L. Jackson and Maria Shriver.
This summer, Dave’s Hot Chicken will come to the Tanger Seaside section of Tanger Outlets Rehoboth Beach. An August opening is planned, though a specific date has not been announced.
But the flavor has already made inroads in the Cape Region, although hot chicken is hardly new.
According to family lore, the idea stems from a domestic quarrel. In the 1930s, an irate woman fed her boyfriend fried chicken loaded with cayenne and other spices after he came home late at night. The plan backfired. The man, Thornton Prince, loved the chicken. He and his brothers refined the recipe, and the family eventually opened what became Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack in Nashville.
At the beach, there are more than a dozen takes on hot chicken, ranging from Nashville-style sandwiches to hot honey riffs. For instance, Fins Ale House & Raw Bar on Coastal Highway batters and fries a chicken breast, then adds Carolina hot sauce, pickles, lettuce and slaw. It’s served on a brioche bun.
The Station on Kings in Lewes gives the sandwich a signature twist by adding hot honey sauce, cucumber kimchi and jicama slaw, while nearby Striper Bites puts warm bacon on its hot honey chicken sandwich.
Spicy chicken complements beer, so it’s no surprise that Thompson Island Brewing Co. has a version. The Rehoboth Beach brewery serves a pickle-brined chicken breast tossed in Calabrian chili with pimento cheese, spicy pickles and coleslaw.
At Dewey Beer Co.in Dewey Beach, the kitchen uses thigh meat for its hot honey handheld. The sandwich also has a spring mix of greens and cured red onions.
Surfin’ Betty’s in Bethany Beach is known for burgers and shakes. However, the restaurant has a chicken category, including a Nashville hot chicken sandwich with spicy hot sauce, sriracha ranch, pickles, lettuce and tomatoes. Order an extra-large soda with that one.
Dave’s Hot Chicken, named America’s fastest-growing restaurant chain in a 2023 Technomic ranking, offers a specialized version of the trend. Chicken tenders and sliders come in seven heat levels, from No Spice to Reaper, the hottest level. Customers choose the heat and cooling companions, such as slaw, sauce and pickles.
The craze isn’t about to cool down anytime soon. The flexible sandwich suits a seafood, pub, brewery or fast-casual menu. In other words, Nashville hot chicken may have started in Tennessee, but it’s finding a comfortable home at the beach.
