Troy, MI — Sometimes, the best way to enjoy a long-awaited food adventure is with friends! When checking out a new eatery, the best approach is to squad up with several friends so that you can sample and share multiple things from the menu. So, when it came time to check out the latest addition to the local hot chicken joint lineup, it was time for foodies to assemble!
For this particular adventure, my fellow foodie adventurers were my friends Vince and Adam. While patiently waiting for the hype around Raising Canes to simmer down, I’ve also been monitoring the development of another chicken establishment in Metro Detroit. The rapidly growing chain restaurant Houston TX Hot Chicken opened its newest Michigan location in Troy on Monday, February 3rd, a day before Raising Cane’s opened its first Metro Detroit location in Canton.
The fast-casual restaurant offers Nashville-inspired Hot Chicken sandwiches, tenders, waffles, loaded fries, salads, drinks, and cookies. The chain recently opened two other locations, one in Novi and the other in Sterling Heights. The Troy location is just west of I-75 along West Big Beaver Road as you approach the southern entrance ramp for the freeway. This is a pretty exciting development for Michigan since most HHC locations are in the West (and three in the Houston Metro). It seems Houston TX Hot Chicken was able to open these locations more relatively low-key than their chicken finger colleagues at Raising Canes, but still to quite the demand and unique hype from those still keen on the Hot Chicken sandwich craze.
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My friends and I gathered at Vince’s house in Royal Oak before carpooling up to Troy to pick up our placed order. Vince’s wife and Adam’s fiancée were out having their own dinner adventure, so we decided to diversify our order as best as possible to try more menu items. We placed two orders of three-piece tender combos, one with medium spice and the other with the next notch up to spicy. We decided to share an order of the 5-piece nuggets with scorpion seasoning, a bold move by some brave foodies despite the fact that we planned to go out to the bars later in the night. Lastly, I ordered a Cheesy Sandwich with medium spice, which is an original hot chicken sandwich smothered in a cheese sauce made fresh in-house every day.
Our trio drove up to HHC and got there around 6 p.m. That area of Troy is quite busy around that time of day, regardless of whether it’s a weekday or weekend, so we tried to be quick. Vince and Adam walked up and got our takeout from the left side of the counter where order pickups were, and I quickly snapped a few photos and videos of the establishment for this blog post.
We were back at Vince’s house about ten minutes later, unboxing the food. We each grabbed a medium and spicy chicken tender and one scorpion pepper-seasoned nugget (to start, at least). We divvied up the fries and house sauce cups evenly, and I placed the Cheesy Sandwich off to the side. I took a few more quick photos and videos of the food before our feeding frenzy took place, and while I was impressed with the spread, I couldn’t help but feel like we should have gotten more fries with our orders.
We all grabbed a sizeable tender, dunked it in the house sauce, and took hearty bites for our first Houston TX Hot Chicken experience. I started on the lower end of the heat scale with the medium-spiced tender and immediately noted how juicy and tender the chicken was. There was the slightest echo of warmth from the spice, but not really much to notice. The chicken was very delicious and fresh, even after a ten-minute drive back to Vince’s house. My friends made similar observations, chomping through their delicious tenders with glee.
We were all very impressed by the house sauce as well. I likened it to a blend of Thousand Islands and Sweet Onion dressings. It had a very pungent sweetness aftertaste that permeated well after your bite was gone. The sauce was perfect with the tenders and the seasoned fries, which were also quite good, albeit perhaps slightly lacking in quantity. Despite this, one tender and a handful of fries filled quite the gap in your stomach.
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We collectively moved on to the spicy tender, which featured an upgrade in heat. The heat jumped several notches up, leaving a pleasant, immediate warmth in your mouth while still allowing for some taste and juiciness from the chicken to remain on your palate’s radar. I was thrilled to see the consistency in the cook of the chicken, whose crispy exteriors maintained composure well, hardly affected by the slightest of grease, which can sometimes cause the breading to slide or fall off from the meat. As a result, Houston TX Hot Chicken’s consistency resulted in far more successful dunks into the house sauce, which again paired beautifully with the hot chicken, providing one stellar sweet/heat finish.
After enjoying the final bites of our tenders, we moved on to the last, and perhaps bravest, of group endeavors of the meal: the scorpion-seasoned nuggets. We collectively decided to take one nugget each and take one bold step (or, in this case, bite) together in our quest to test the middle range of spice levels at Houston TX Hot Chicken. We cheers’ed our nuggets in the middle of the table as if they were the Irish ales and IPAs we would soon be downing but a mere few hours later in Royal Oak — and took a bite. We all silently chewed, darting looks at each other to see who the heat would strike first. Interestingly, the heat from these nuggets didn’t swell until after finishing the bite, and boy, did it kick when it did. While again not the spiciest thing to ever light up my taste cavern, the heat again jumped significantly and remained for a good while afterward. It was not only a creeper heat but also lingered and activated a sweat bead or two upon one’s brow. Still, before the heat crept its way in, the flavor and profile of the chicken were marvelous with this spice.
Last but not least, after finishing the lone nugget, I saved about two to three bites worth of room for the Cheesy Sandwich. I really enjoyed this sandwich for several reasons, but I will admit that I wish it had come a bit more “beefed up” in terms of its portions. The pickles and slaw were there and definitely made their contributions; I just wish there was a wee bit more!
The uniqueness of this sandwich versus the original is the addition of the house-made cheese sauce, which was one of my favorite aspects of the whole meal. There was a proper amount hiding underneath the top brioche bun. That gooey golden sauce was a cheese lover’s paradise, even helping cut some of the heat from the hot chicken. If you can effort a bite with all the ingredients swimming in that cheese sauce, you’ll be happy with this selection. I saved the rest of the Cheesy Sandwich for breakfast the next day, and it held together well. It was absolutely demolished in about four or five hearty and eager bites!
Overall, this meal was enjoyed with relish and made even better since it was enjoyed with friends! The three different spices we tried were incremented enough apart to be distinguishable on their own, with the spiciest (scorpion) leaving its mark via a not-so-subtle afterburn. The tenders were hefty and cooked fresh to order, maintaining a nice juicy interior with a crispy exterior.
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My friends and I all agreed we would try Houston TX Hot Chicken again, even being so bold as to commit to checking out the next highest tier of spice, Lift-Off, which, per the website, indicates a considerable jump from spicy. There is one final tier: Houston, We Have a Problem, which is so spicy that you need to sign a waiver when you order it. By that point, can you actually taste your food, or is it more for the social media clout? My friends and I pondered this as we finished our meal and prepared for our night out. If you’re feeling the need for some zest with your next meal, consider checking out one of the three Metro Detroit locations for Houston TX Hot Chicken!
For more information about Houston TX Hot Chicken or details on the Metro Detroit locations, click here.
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