If you’re a fan of the YouTube interview/hot wings show Hot Ones, we’ve got some exciting news for you. And if you’re not, you probably just haven’t seen the show yet. Hot Ones host Sean Evans leads celebrity guests through a progression of 10 heat levels (and torture) while they gobble down chicken wings and answer surprisingly probing interview questions. (Seriously, stop reading this and watch the Conan O’Brien episode if you haven’t yet!)
Part of the fun of watching the show is imagining what the experience might be like to make your way from relatively mild wings to the truly infernal options that make up the last few offerings. There are ways to simulate the ride, including purchasing an assortment of all the sauces from a particular season from the production company’s (First We Feast) distribution partner, Heatonist. This is an expensive proposition, with most bottles averaging more than $10 apiece. And let’s be honest — not many folks are going to make it all the way through a bottle of the spiciest sauces or the one that seems to throw most people for a loop, Da Bomb.
Another option for some fans is to order a sandwich or some wings from one of more than 50 restaurants around the country that have hooked up with a company named Mealco to provide Hot Ones-approved products as an adjunct to their regular menus for carry-out or delivery. Unfortunately, the closest option to Nashville currently is in Oxford, Miss., so your hot wings would certainly be cold by the time they arrived. Marcel Grangien, the CEO of Mealco, has come up with another solution, and it involves a longtime Nashville culinary entrepreneur.
“We wanted to create an experience for fans of the show to try the hot sauces, but as a part of some really good food items,” Grangien told me in a phone interview. “We’ll have some from the milder side of the spectrum all the way up to the ‘Last Dab’ sauce that has a 30-minute burn.”
Mealco’s experience revolves around partnering with restaurants across the country and with Hot Ones producers First We Feast, so when Grangien began to consider a mobile option, he reached out to Best Food Trucks, and that connected him to longtime Nashville food truck operator BJ Lofback. You might remember Lofback from his previous ventures at Riffs Fine Street Food, Funk Seoul Brother and even briefly piloting a truck for Bojangles. Of late he’s been concentrating on expanding Pinchy’s, his New England seafood restaurant that started at the Factory at Franklin and has since expanded to East Tennessee and Texas. Although he is no longer involved in day-to-day operations at Pinchy’s, he still maintains an ownership stake and consults when needed.
He has stepped back from the lobster biz to concentrate on creating the first Hot Ones Wings and Sandwiches Truck, coming soon to Nashville. Mealco has done a lot of research about typical fans of Hot Ones, and they’re 80 percent male — ranging in age from 18 to their mid-30s and often living in college towns. Yep, that sounds like downtown Nashville! (Plus, our fair city already has a reputation for being quite fond of spicy chicken.)
Downtown is where you’ll find Lofback’s new truck sometime starting in March as rolls out with a soft opening. Lofback and the team started designing the new truck from scratch with a laser focus on being able to offer high-quality/high-volume fried chicken as a base for the Hot Ones sauces. He’s brought his experience to bear with thoughtful additions to the truck like a screen door for sweltering summer days in Nashville when he’s working the fryer, and he’s also made sure that the truck has a powerful fan to clear the air when he’s dealing with the hottest sauces.
Fans of Funk Seoul Brother might remember that Lofback is a master of Korean fried chicken, and he’ll be bringing some of those techniques to bear to maximize the efficiency of the Hot Ones Sandwiches and Wings frying process. Like with traditional KFC, Lofback will fry the chicken once and then a second time for service, ensuring a crispy crust that will hold up to being tossed with sauce at time of order. Another benefit is that his technique for frying wings is completely gluten-free, so he’ll have dedicated fryers for anyone with a sensitivity. He’ll also offer more traditional Southern-style chicken tenders and sandwiches.
As far as the menu goes, Lofback plans to offer about six sauces from the show per week on a rotating basis, which diners can order individually or as part of a “Challenge Box” that will give them the ride from tame to insane. Lofback explains his reasoning this way: “The show offers 10 wings with the goal of making people feel hurt. We definitely want to cater to fans of the show, but even if you’re not a fan of spicy food, we’ll have something for you. But I do love big flavors!”
More than just a challenge, the Hot Ones truck wants to be able to offer a full meal for someone who’s looking for some fantastic fried chicken. There will be Southern-skewing side dishes on the menu and always some sauce heat levels that won’t make your ears sweat. Vegans probably won’t find much to enjoy on the menu, though.
Look for soft opening events around town starting in early March with an official opening date hopefully by the end of the month. Although Lofback plans to be more of an upper-level manager as the fleet of Hot Ones Sandwiches and Wings trucks expands, you can expect to see him working the fryer or the window on the truck for the first few months. “I’ve been a fan of the show for a long time, and I want to honor what the show is,” he explains. “But it’s in my blood. I love food truckin’! It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever loved to do.”
