John L.
Yelp
Known for their digestive system disruptive Code Blue chicken sandwiches, this review covers the flavors of the sauces and dishes instead of the self-torture. Is the chicken really tasty? No! The sandwiches? Yes! They use white meat chicken filets that are big, thick, and moistened with brine. The filets have a plain chicken flavor with a hint of salt water. Since the filet is big, this plain flavor makes up a good part of the flavor in their dishes. With that in mind, let's see where the flavors are coming from.
They have 6 spice levels. The heat comes from chile powders, applied twice. First, it is added to their Love sauce, which the cooked chicken is dipped in. Then, the powder is dusted onto the sauce coated chicken. The ingredients listed are the ones that contribute to the heat. Many other ingredients make up the flavor profile of their Love sauce, such as salt, sugar, onion powder, spices, etc.
1) Classic has no heat.
2) Level 1 is paprika and mild cayenne.
3) Level 2 is jalapeño and hot cayenne. It's about 100,000 Scoville heat units (SHU).
4) Level 3 is habanero pepper and mitmita powder. It's about 300,000 SHU. Mitmita is an Ethiopian spice blend of bird's eye chile, salt, cardamom, cloves, and other seasonings.
5) Code Red has ghost pepper, mitmita, and berbere. It's about 1 million SHU. Berbere is an Ethiopian spice blend of fenugreek, ginger, and red chile pepper with warm spices.
6) Code Blue has Carolina reaper pepper, Trinidad scorpion pepper, ghost pepper, mitmita, and berbere. It's about 2 million SHU.
Orders are placed on a kiosk. They have 2 kiosks located in front of the wall menu. The wall menu doesn't list everything that they have. Their sauce descriptions were useless, so I wrote descriptions down below for the 4 sauces that we got. We bought 3 dishes.
1) Sando sandwich
Breaded chicken breast filet, ciderslaw, butter pickles, and comeback sauce in a potato bun with 2 choices of sauce. We got this at Level 1. It wasn't hot. The sandwich was large (5.5 inches in diameter). The chicken was moist and tender with a typical white meat flavor and a hint of brine. The thin, crispy coating was well-seasoned with a touch of spiciness. The bun was soft and moist with a typical flavor. The ciderslaw had cabbage, red onions, vinegar, salt, sugar, and seasonings. It works in the sandwich, but I wouldn't buy it as a side. The slaw has juices that drip out, so make sure to cover the bottom. The breading, slaw, and comeback sauce give this sandwich flavor. We poured sauce on EACH bite to overcome the bland chicken. The chicken itself needs a marinade. The owner used to claim that the chicken filets were marinated in buttermilk, shio koji, spices, salts, mirin, and saké. That's not happening now! That's a pity. It must have been great.
2) Michael sandwich
It had breaded chicken filet, mushrooms, monteray jack, cheddar, mozzarella, and slices of red and green chile peppers in a potato bun with 2 choices of sauce. We got this at Classic level. This was the same size as the Sando. The chicken and breading were the same as above. The chiles were not very hot. This was tastier than their Sando because the cheeses added more flavor and savoriness. It still needed sauce. I prefer this over the Sando.
3) Burrito
Grilled chicken, egg, cheese, and rice in a flour tortilla with 2 choices of sauce. We got this at level 2. It wasn't very hot because there wasn't enough chile powder in it. Only the meat had some. The chicken was breast meat that was moist, tender, and seasoned. The egg was cooked over-medium. The melted cheese tasted like a blend. The rice was lightly seasoned. We added Somi sauce, which was flavorful and complementary. Overall, the blend of flavors was satisfying.
Here are the 4 sauces that we tried. They were in condiment cups with lids. It costs extra for more than 2 per entree.
1) Comeback sauce
It had mayo, ketchup, and sweet relish. It was thick and heavy on mayo flavor.
2) Mumbo sauce
It was very sweet, peppery, and slightly tangy with flavors of sugar, tabasco sauce, and ketchup.
3) Somi sauce
It had a nice balance of mayo, cilantro, and lime juice. It's named after the owner's dog.
4) Zard sauce
It had level 2 heat. BBQ sauce and mayo with ground red chile pepper & jalapeño oil. It was hot and enjoyable!
They also have Honey mustard sauce and Michael's bbq sauce.
The service was polite, helpful, and very informative. The dining room and restrooms were clean. There is street parking and garage parking at Harris Teeter. The food had good flavors on the first couple of chews, and then the bland chicken took over. As long as you have enough sauce, the food can be flavorful throughout. The quality of the food was excellent, and it was pleasing after we figured out the sauces. So, give them a visit if you're looking for spicy hot chicken.