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Las Vegas just can’t stop, won’t stop opening fried chicken restaurants — whether served Nashville hot style, on a bun, or as a whole or half bird. The year alone brought Blue Hen Chicken Co., the new breakfast and lunch spot on the westside that specializes in breaded chicken thighs and chicken sandwiches with an egg or pickled chilies and peanut sauce. Over at Rainbow Boulevard and Washington Avenue, it’s Trask’s Chicken & Fish and its south side of Chicago takes on chicken dinners in half and quarter birds, with white and dark meat. Wildly popular Dave’s Hot Chicken out of Los Angeles brings fast-casual hot chicken tenders and sliders across from Village Square with a second location already planned for the Grand Bazaar Shops.
Near UNLV, Angry Chickz brings lines waiting out the door for its roster of Nashville hot chicken while The Chicken Shack opened its ninth local outpost with a 10th on the way to North Las Vegas. Then there’s Bun Bun Chicken in the northwest with “hot, hot, hot,” chicken and waffles.
At Resorts World on the Las Vegas Strip, chef Marcus Samuelsson, the James Beard Award-winning chef known for Red Rooster in Harlem, New York, opened his first restaurant in Las Vegas at Famous Foods Street Eats, serving sweet and spicy fried chicken, hot honey chicken and waffle, chicken wings, and mac ’n greens. Streetbird Las Vegas is just of 16 stalls at the food hall.
Sadly, newcomer Golden Bird Chicken out of Los Angeles already closed on the east side close to the intersection of Desert Inn and Pecos Road after opening in February.
Just opened
More fried chicken is still on the way to the already crowded market. Legendary Chicago institution Harold’s Chicken opened at 1381 W. Sunset Road in Henderson with its chicken dinners originally launched in 1953.
Already, Houston’s Hot Chicken opened at the intersection of Green Valley and Pebble Road in Henderson with a roster of Nashville hot chicken with spice levels ranging from 1 to 10 in sandwiches, tenders, waffles, and loaded fries with, yes, fried chicken. The company already has plans to open at 1201 S. Main Street in the Arts District, as well as future locations in Summerlin and on Dean Martin Road.
On the way
Other newcomers on the way include Good Old Chicken, headed to Rhodes Ranch at 8130 W. Warm Springs Road, WhatNow Las Vegas reports. Andy Ko, who owns The Sparklings, is behind the project that slots in near Born & Raised.
Combining sweet and spicy Korean fried chicken with the heat of a Nashville hot sandwich, Oxnard, California’s Burnin’ Mouth plans to expand from its California food hall roots to a brick-and-mortar space on the westside. The new home of the self-described “hottest chicken ever made” heads to the Charleston Festival retail center, close to Torrey Pines Drive. The main attractions here bring the Nashville hot Coo Coo sandwich, topped with pickles, sauce, and coleslaw, and the Bang Bang, prepared with garlic soy or sweet chili sauces, topped with butter ranch, coleslaw, and pickles and the brand’s own version of comeback sauce.
Golden Chick plans to open 20 restaurants around the region with its house specialty of fried chicken pieces and tenders prepared with a secret marinade and batter mix. The Texas-based parent company plans to opens at the southeast corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and West Carey Avenue and at the intersection of Lamb and Lake Mead boulevards in Sunrise.
Finally, The Red Chickz plans to open 10 outposts of Nashville hot chicken restaurants in Nevada, according to Restaurant News. The restaurant serves tenders, wings, and sandwiches in heat levels from cool to inferno.