BoltonsAbstractChicken

Maybe you’ve heard we have this thing called hot chicken in Nashville. Maybe? Of course you have. There is the famous story of the cheating man who prompted the creation of hot chicken. But that was only the beginning of a long history. First, there was Prince’s, founded in the 1930s. In the late 1970s, one of Prince’s cooks, Bolton Polk, left and started his own restaurant, originally called Colombo’s. Both restaurants have been forced to move repeatedly because of development, gentrification, and deliberate efforts of city government to push African-Americans out of valuable property. Colombo’s was forced to close when the Titan’s stadium was built. In 1997, the family reopened in a little concrete box on Main Street, under the name Bolton’s Spicy Chicken and Fish, later expanding into a larger building behind the box. More recently, they’ve added new branches on Franklin Pike and in Chatanooga. The Main Street location is covered in art. Two main styles predominate. The older art has a more cartoon style, with jumping fish and hot plates of potatoes, while the newer works are more abstract, with chicken and fish surrounded by and belching flame. Which you will be doing when you get your food. I get the medium. It’s medium in the sense a Category 3 hurricane is medium compared to a Category 5. It’s still a hurricane!

Located at 624-B Main Street. The smaller building is right on the street and impossible to miss. Officially, the parking next door is for Center 615, though on weekends and evenings you’re fine parking there. Otherwise, you’ll need to walk a bit. Get some grub, buy some beer and milk, and enjoy the art!

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