This year's edition of the Scene's Hot Chicken Week was contested Jan. 22-28, and the competition was, as you can imagine, quite heated. Among the more than 25 establishments that competed to win the favor of Scene readers who voted through their tweets, 'grams and Facebook posts, scrappy South Nashville favorite Subculture Urban Cuisine & Cafe came up the big winner with their outrageous hot chicken special.
(In a production mixup, some ad copy in this week's print edition of the Scene erroneously indicated that Banjo's Food Truck had the winning dish. While Banjo’s did indeed serve up some excellent hot chicken and waffles, and did hold a slim lead going into the final weekend of the competition, they didn't end up taking the crown as premium poultry purveyor, but instead were a worthy second-place finisher. The winner was reported correctly online.)
The folks at Subculture made a huge push over the weekend, both in their tiny kitchen where the small family staff worked overtime to keep up with the demand for their creative hot chicken waffle cone, and also on their various social media outlets, where they kept a running commentary of their efforts, which in turn attracted even more new and old fans in to try out their special Hot Chicken Week dish.
This wasn't unusual for Subculture, considering they are a perennial high performer in the Scene’s various culinary contests, ranging from previous Hot Chicken Weeks, Taco Week and our obsessive sandwich showdowns. Working out of a kitchen that is literally smaller than most restaurant’s walk-in coolers, Subculture produces a tight menu of sandwiches, salads and entrees, many of which exhibit Latin influences from the chef-owners, the Bonacic brothers, and their Chilean heritage. Subculture is a family affair, so Pablo and Javier Bonacic wanted to especially recognize the efforts of their hardworking staff members, Christina, Felipe, Jose and Zack, who rose to the occasion during Hot Chicken Week.
They shine brightest when they come up with innovative specials, some of which are inspired by these contests. Their hot chicken ramen is legendary among hardcore fans of spicy poultry, and the dish they devised for this year’s Hot Chicken Week created quite a buzz among the dining community. They took their perfectly fried hot chicken (already the defending Hot Chicken Week championship version) and nestled it inside a handmade waffle cone, topped with cooling Asian slaw made with carrots, cabbage, green onion, raw honey, sesame oil and fish sauce.
The front of house team scrambled to keep up with demand as the kitchen ran out of food almost every day of the contest week, but still they persisted. In the end, their pullet reigned supreme, and they were awarded the official championship of Hot Chicken Week 2018. We’ll never stop encouraging all the participating restaurants and the Nashville community to spread the gospel of hot chicken around town. Facebook feeds were full of citizen judges hitting multiple spots in the same day to try to eat their way through the entire competition. We salute you intrepid eaters, too, but we wouldn’t necessarily want to sit next to you on a bus.
For their win, Subculture Urban Cuisine & Cafe received a Golden Ticket to compete in this year’s World Food Championships, to be held in November in beautiful Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, Ala. They will have the chance to win their category and a crack at the $100,000 grand prize. While it’s no Hot Chicken Week crown, it would still be pretty cool to win.
Subculture Urban Cuisine and Cafe
5737 Nolensville Pike
Nashville, TN 37211
615-955-1223
