Where: Nashville, Tennessee
When: year-round
If you like: dining and drinks
Why you should go: Diners can find hot chicken on menus from Alabama to Alaska these days, but for a true taste of tradition, plan a culinary pilgrimage to Prince’s Hot Chicken in Nashville. With an appropriately spicy origin story involving a scorned lover and a plate of devilishly hot “revenge” chicken, one that inspired unexpected pleasure over pain, the country’s OG hot chicken shack opened on Jefferson Street in Nashville in 1945. Eighty years later, a lot has changed in Music City, but Prince’s is still slinging batch after batch of fiery fried chicken. “We’re always working to stay current—to see the change and adapt while staying true to who we are as a family,” says Semone Jeffries, the current owner and daughter of longtime proprietor André Prince Jeffries.
Today the family’s cayenne-crusted birds come in eight heat levels, from plain to XXX-Hot, and devoted fans don’t mind waiting, sometimes hours, for the fried-to-order plates. It’s this unbridled enthusiasm that allows Prince’s to bridge the gap between old Nashville and new; the company recently opened outposts at the city’s glitzy new soccer stadium, Geodis Park, and the Nashville airport, and it’s also planning a return to its roots. “Our next project takes us back to where it all started—to Jefferson Street, the root of Black business and Black culture in Nashville,” Jeffries says.
G&G tip: Proceed with caution, first-timers. “We always recommend starting with mild,” Jeffries says. “If someone insists that they can take the heat, we advise ordering medium. It puts you in the middle. It’s flavorful with a touch of fire.”
