Dave's Hot Chicken

LA-Born Dave’s Hot Chicken Hatches in D.C. This Week | Eater DC

"Debuting in D.C. this week, Dave's Hot Chicken opens its first area outpost on Friday, March 3 in Columbia Heights (3301 14th Street NW). I note the wildly popular, Nashville-style hot chicken chain from LA is backed by celebrity investors including rapper Drake and actor Samuel L. Jackson, with additional investors Maria Shriver and Michael Strahan, and that its humble roots date to a 2017 East Hollywood parking-lot pop-up started by four childhood friends (Tommy and Gary Rubenyan, Arman Oganesyan, and Dave Kopushyan). The chicken is brined and then fried and offered in seven spice levels that progress from “no spice” up to the “reaper,” which is so hot customers must sign a waiver. The D.C. menu mirrors other locations with four combo options for tenders and fried chicken sliders (served with crinkle-cut fries, pickles, Dave’s sauce, and homemade kale slaw), plus tenders or sliders a la carte, cheese fries, mac and cheese, sodas, and shakes in chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla. The 64-seat flagship keeps the building’s dramatic 1920s Art Deco bones (it formerly housed a Z-Burger) and features Splatter Haus’s hand-painted, color-soaked murals and playful presidential portraits riffing on Dave’s chicken logo. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, the team will focus on dine-in initially with delivery coming in the next few months, and local owner Kelly Jackson says there are plans for several more area locations including Tysons Corner and Arlington. The brand’s rapid growth was driven by a licensing deal with Bill Phelps and John Davis that sold rights to more than 700 locations across the U.S. and Canada, with outposts as far away as Dubai and Qatar and about 60 more stores planned in 2023." - Aparna Krishnamoorthy