Courtesy of Chuck's Hot Chicken
Nashville-style hot chicken—the often incendiary signature item that started in Music City and has quickly expanded elsewhere, including St. Louis—is still hot. The latest example: Chuck’s Hot Chicken plans to open its third area location in early September in the former St. Louis Wing Co. space (9816 Manchester) in Rock Hill.
The Menu
Courtesy of Chuck's Hot Chicken
Co-owner Charles “Chuck” Taylor explains that the restaurant “trims, hand-breads, and fries all of our chicken to order using only fresh chicken breasts." The resulting sandwich is big and crunchy on the outside, juicy and tender inside. Chicken strips can be ordered plain or with one of six dipping sauces, ranging from “baby steps” to "try at your own risk" (which a staffer describes as “crying uncontrollably hot”).
Courtesy of Chuck's Hot Chicken
Bone-in chicken and sides at Chuck's Hot Chicken
Bone-in chicken (leg, thigh, quarter, chicken wings) is available after 4 p.m. “The only reason we chose that timeframe is that bone-in bird takes longer to cook,” Taylor says, “so it’s not ideal at lunchtime, when people are in a hurry.”
Side dishes include garlic cheese curds, breaded corn fritters, baked potato salad, homestyle green beans, coleslaw, and battered French fries, which travel well.
That’s it—that’s the menu. The partners wanted to focus on consistency, simplicity, and making the concept scalable.
The Background
Taylor first became obsessed with Nashville hot chicken after making multiple trips to Hattie B’s in Nashville. Early last year, after experimenting with different hot chicken recipes and testing the concept's viability in a Cecil Whittaker’s Pizza location that he owned with Jon Plawsky, Taylor opened St. Louis' first Chuck’s Hot Chicken location in Maryland Heights. The duo then opened a freestanding location at 2758 Highway K, in a former sub shop in O’Fallon, Missouri.
The Rock Hill store will be the concept's first franchise location. Caleb Lavezzi, who worked at Yaya’s Euro Bistro for years and was selected by parent company PB&J to open a concept outside of Seattle called Ocean 5, returned to St. Louis at the start of the pandemic and worked for a pharmaceutical software company, where he "saved every dime I could, and put it all in a basket of Chuck’s Hot Chicken." The former Wing Co. location measures 1,900 square feet and can seat approximately 30 diners.
Another franchisee has been tapped to open an additional store in West County next year, says Taylor, and talks are underway to explore the viability of a mini-location inside Busch Stadium as well.
“We need to figure out the next best move for us and coordinate the timing,” Taylor says, “but the bottom line is that Chuck’s is in expansion mode. Our plan is to stake our claim in Missouri and move on from there.”
