Hot Chicken at Peaches Hothouse

Fried chicken needs to be fried to order. Par-cooked chicken finished in the fryer or chicken that's fried and kept warm under a heat lamp doesn't do the final product justice. Our chicken at Peaches Hothouse wasn't cooked to order. The chicken was flavorful and spicy, but not as good as it could have been. It was dry from sitting around and being kept warm after it was cooked, and nowhere near the intensity of the hot chicken at Prince's, the Ewing Drive storefront in Nashville Peach's has drawn inspiration for their Nashville-style chicken.

At both places, the chicken is dipped in a wet rub that has a heavy dose of cayenne, then dredged in flour, also laced with cayenne. The result is a deep, dark, spicy, red hued skin. You may order chicken at Prince's mild, medium, hot, or extra hot. Peaches offers regular, hot, or extra hot, and each order ($13) comes with a side. We sweat through an order of medium at Prince's a few months before Digest NY launched, but swear we can still sense the tingling heat from cayenne-laced chicken. Extra hot at Peaches is a cool meal by comparison.

[extra hot with collards and hot with asparagus]But comparisons aside, Peaches is a decent meal in its own right. The casual vibe between the walls of 415 Tompkins Street synchs with the backyard fare that makes up the menu. There's a slower tempo at the Bed-Stuy eatery too, one we find welcoming and all too uncommon in New York. Service is friendly, a little scatter-brained, but you'll get everything you need, it just might take an extra minute or two longer than you're used to.

415 Tompkins Avenue | 718-483-9111 | www | map