Nashville Hot Chicken Day 4: 400 Degrees

All photos @Mary Brace 2013. All rights reserved

Today's Nashville restaurants venture comes from another of the spiritual grandchildren of Prince's Hot Chicken: 400 Degrees. Owner Aqui Simpson grew up on Princes and now has her own place, tucked in a stand-alone food court at 4th & Peabody. I'd never been in a food court that wasn't attached to a mall, and while the signage for Quizno's and Nuvo Burrito was clear, I had to do a double-check to make sure I was at the right location.

400 Degrees is ready-made for franchising, if you're interested. I'm even tempted. For the record, we got the medium hot, 200 Degrees.

Tenderness: 8 ... this hot chicken could have been made by one of those food scientists you hear about, who come up with ways to give consumers something that's both crispy and tender at the same time.

Moisture: 8 That also was good although honestly, it was partly due to the sauce.

Grease 6: On the downside, there was more of it than I'd have liked. So much grease went into the underlying bread that it became easy to resist the urge to gobble up all of that, too.

Flavor: 9 A simple combo of cayenne & paprika, according to their literature. Like the saying goes, if all you've got are three chords, make sure they're good chords. 400 Degrees does it right.

Atmosphere: 6 Food court. Pretty anonymous homogenous.

Sides: Sides were limited, so I declined. Not taking any points away or giving.

Overall: 7.5. Love the dish, dislike the corporate atmosphere.