A Nashville hot chicken joint opens in Bushwick

By Scott Lynch

It is difficult (surprisingly so? Or obviously?) to find great Nashville hot chicken in Brooklyn. There’s the excellent Peaches Hothouse in Bed-Stuy, Birdies in Williamsburg … and now, Flo’s Hot Chicken, a new counter service spot in Bushwick slinging an array of what Chef Benjamin Metzger calls “Southern comforts.”

The spicy-sweet fried chicken at Flo’s is very good—crispy on the outside, well seasoned, juicy within—and served several ways. But just to be clear, despite what the sign in the front window might say, Metzger, who is from Long Island, isn’t trying to recreate an authentic Nashville experience here on Wyckoff Avenue.

For starters, the bird at Flo’s is all white meat. To make it easy to eat on the go, it’s served off the bone, either as tenders or in a sandwich. It’s not wet or sloppy with cayenne paste either, and Metzger uses more sugar in his recipe than longtime hot-chicken heads might be used to.

“My chicken is more on the sweeter side,” he tells Brooklyn Magazine. “Some other locations put the cayenne up front, so all you think is like ‘on man I’m eating something really spicy.’ I like that feeling at the end. I hit you with the sugar first, then the cayenne.”

The brioche bun and the pineapple slaw that accompanies the “Original Hot Chicken Sandwich” (aka the “Southern Hottie”) only add to that initial hit of sweetness, but the cayenne seasoning and, crucially, the liberally-applied harissa mayo, also ensure plenty of heat.

The Southern Hottie (Scott Lynch)

You can order the “Southern Hottie” bird without bread, as chicken tenders with a choice of dipping sauce. Even better, get them “chopped and recklessly mashed” into a mountain of waffle fries. This latter dish, called “Crazy Hot Fries,” arrives studded with pickles and gloppy with sauce.

Crazy Hot Fries ($11.50) (Scott Lynch)

There’s a self-explanatory “Hot Honey Chicken Sandwich,” a grilled chicken sandwich for those in need of something tamer, and a handful of sides, including some decent fried pickles and a slab of fried mac ‘n’ cheese. The stealth winner, though, might be the hot po-boy fish sandwich with basa white fish, and caper sauce for a nice hit of acid.

It should be noted that Flo herself is not involved with this new restaurant; she was the chef at the short-lived Caribbean predecessor in the space, Triangle Cafe, which, like Flo’s, was “created and managed” by a consulting firm called The Restaurant Company.

The space itself is dominated by an ordering counter—there’s no seating inside or out, though they do have stools on order—and the decor runs toward corny neon signs and colorful chicken portraits. And on the day we visited, wall-to-wall deep house bangers.

(Scott Lynch)

Flo’s Hot Chicken is located at 126 Wyckoff Avenue, between Stanhope and Stockholm Streets, and is currently open from 11:00 a.m to 7:00 p.m daily (718-483-9216)