Taste the heat: New restaurant offering Nashville hot chicken opens in Warner Robins

When Cathy Reece was 15, she started working at Carolyn’s Chicken and Seafood in Montezuma.

Friday, she and her husband, Michael, who own and operate the popular Props Steak and Seafood in Warner Robins, expect to open their second restaurant but with a totally different dining concept.

The Hot Chik at 670 Lake Joy Road in Warner Robins offers Nashville hot chicken, rotisserie chicken, wings, fresh vegetables, wine slushies and boozy milkshakes.

At a recent pre-opening event, Reece was delighted when Willie Mae Respress, a former manager at Carolyn’s, came by to taste their specialty, the Nashville hot chicken.

“It was just like this,” Reece recalled of working at Carolyn’s as she surveyed The Hot Chik. “It was quick service. You ordered at a counter. We plated up the chicken and we handed it across the counter.

“For all those years, she was my manager, and when we opened this, I said, ‘My life has come full circle. I’m right back where I started.’ ”

Friends and Family night

The new restaurant received a thumbs up from Respress, who tried the fried chicken tossed with Yankee Mild sauce, at the recent Friends and Family night. Her son, Dwayne, who opted for the Southern fried fish dinner, also enjoyed his meal.

“It’s kind of got like a sweet taste to it,” Respress said. “This is fantastic.”

Her meal looked inviting to me and feeling adventurous, I ordered the same breast and wing plate with the Yankee Mild sauce and two sides. I chose collard greens and fried okra.

Billed as “a touch of heat,” the Yankee Mild was still a little too hot for me. I also tried the Southern traditional without the heat and that was just right. Delicious.

Tip: If ordering Nashville hot chicken for the first time, consider ordering the sauce on the side.

The collard greens also had a bit of a kick. No pepper sauce needed. The okra was lightly breaded.

Portion wise, this is a big plate. The chicken is served atop thick toast and with a couple of pickles to help balance the heat.

Other sauce options in increasing intensity include Midwest Medium (warming up), Nashville Hot (feel the heat) and Whatdacluck! (warning burn notice).

Lawrence “Law” Dixon, one of the managers, joked that plenty of people had tried the hottest level without requiring the summoning of emergency personnel.

“No ambulances so far,” he said with a laugh.

Executive Chef Kory Mack, who developed the menus for both Props and The Hot Chik, said he visited restaurants known for Nashville hot chicken in Las Vegas and in Nashville, including Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack where the dish is believed to have originated.

Mack, who’s developed his own version of the signature dish, doesn’t consider the heat to really kick in until sauce option Nashville Hot.

What fuels the intense heat in Whatdacluck! is ghost pepper, he said.

More menu choices

Rotisserie chicken options also include white and dark pieces plus a half chicken and a whole chicken.

Other choices include chicken and waffles, a Sunday dinner bowl, homemade chicken and rice soup, chicken pot pie, jumbo tenders and whole wings.

On my next visit, I’d like to try a couple of the starters, including the Chikarrons, fried chicken skins served with a choice of sauce and spicy honey drizzle. The skins include a bit of meat carved from the thigh, Mack said.

Mack recommended trying the Fried Pimento Cheese Bites. The bites are breaded and deep fried and served with sweet chili sauce and jalapeno ranch.

Worth noting is that the “local beer” cheese sauce that goes on the Hot Chik Loaded Fries refers to Fall Line Brewing Co. in Macon.

Sides include crinkle cut fries, creamy coleslaw, sweet buttered corn, white cheddar mac and cheese, loaded potato salad, garlic mashed potatoes and roasted chicken gravy, Southern green beans, roasted chicken gravy and “spunky spudz.”

The spunky spuds are cooked with drippings from the rotisserie chicken, Reece said.

Props’ employees Cici Vincent of Perry and Jozzy Taylor of Warner Robins tried the popcorn chicken and the boozy milkshakes including the Boozy Banana Pudding Milkshake with “banana pudding moonshine,” a scoop of the house-made banana pudding, vanilla ice cream and vanilla wafer cookies.

Among the wine slushies, Cathy’s Fromosa is a frozen mimosa.

Other beverages include Coke products, tea, and bottled, canned or draft beer, including Fall Line beer. The cider beer is from the Atlanta Cider Company.

Munching down

Trying a variety of menu options including the fried chicken, jumbo tenders and chicken sandwich, The Adison family of five from Warner Robins also gave the new restaurant a thumbs up.

Reece’s personal favorite menu option is the chicken sandwich with Nashville Hot sauce.

Deep fried peach cobbler, deep fried apple pie, banana pudding and vanilla bean soft ice cream round out the desserts.

“We’re not just another chicken joint,” Reece said. “It’s a completely different concept from anything in this area.”

Everything is made to order.

On each table are a large roll of paper towels, hot sauce, pepper sauce, ketchup, salt and pepper.

For Reece, The Hot Chik is “truly a family affair.” Daughter-in-law Josie Reece and soon-to-be son-in-law Michael Hightower are a part of the restaurant team at The Hot Chik.

Additionally, the restaurant features the work of artist Kevin “Scene” Lewis. The restaurant’s slogan is, “Everybody Needs A Hot Chik.”

Hours are 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily except for Friday and Saturday when the Hot Chik is open an hour later until 10 p.m.

This story was originally published September 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.