Today Chris and I had an unexpected day off, so after buying a new stove and searching thrift stores for junk that could be turned into beautiful furniture, we had a real live lunch date at Hot Chick at 7 N 17th Street. We had both heard of Memphis Hot Chicken, but didn't think it had come to Richmond until Chris had some time to visit. It was good enough that he dated me. We arrived a bit before 12 and were greeted ENTHUSIASTICALLY by the manager who LOVED all over Chris' Game of Thrones t-shirt as they are about the have a Game of Thrones season opener party including a GOT flight! She was very excited and we immediately loved her. We were seated and given water and menus. Chris walked me through what he had had and we made lunch time choices. We decided to share everything. Our waiter was charming and cute and very good at his job. Hot chicken is meant to be hot so we wanted to experience the real thing. We started with "hot wings" but we got cauliflower since it was different and chose the house hot sauce. The cauliflower was tender inside and so crispy outside. Obviously breaded in a light batter and fried to perfection, it had just the right amount of tomato, vinegar, and spice to round out the flavor. They were hot, fried, and spicy with just the right amount of sweet and acid. These were served with house made ranch, not my favorite normally but this one was nice, and celery. Next was the shared sandwich. We had the "Hot Chick", a fried chicken sandwich with Nashville Style hot sauce served with a ranch slaw and sweet potato waffle fries. I assumed the "HOT" chicken would melt my face, but the flavor started out sweet, almost like honey and then morphed slowly into the spice and finally settled in your palate with warm tingly spice. Not too hot. Not tame. Just the right amount of fire to make you come back for more. The sweet potato fries were fresh from the fryer and just the right compliment to the spicy chicken. I admit, the slaw was not much to talk about. Fresh veg, but not much more. Still the sandwich and fries rocked my world! It was time to pick Reid up from work so we were about to ask for the check when out waiter mentioned dessert. Hmmm... What do you have???? He mentioned Nightingale Ice Cream Sandwiches! Why YES! They make a special ice cream sandwich just for Hot Chick. A hot honey maple ice cream with waffle chunks on a brown sugar cookie. It's served in the honey maple pepper syrup and it makes you cry it's so good. We were sopping up the syrup with our fingers. A-MAZING!!!!! This is definitely worth the trip! The food is great and the people are warm and accommodating! Shared lunch $28! Bon Appetit
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