Hot Chicken Pasta - Amerigo, Nashville

Fried chicken and pasta? What’s not to like?

Last week my colleague and I went to Amerigo for lunch. It’s a good Italian restaurant, so I expected to order one of the traditional pasta dishes I’ve had before, a caeser salad or maybe a Panini. I hadn’t been in a while and the menu had changed. Immediately the special of the day jumped out – hot chicken pasta. Fits perfectly in my strict high-carb diet.

Unless you are from Nashville, have visited Nashville, or some Southern city that replicates hot chicken, you can’t truly understand hot chicken.

If Emeril were to describe it, he might call it Southern fried chicken “kicked up a few notches,” followed by a “BAM!”

It’s a secret combination of spices that somehow adds a firey kick without compromising the juiciness. To understand it is to experience it.

Check out this video as background.

Former Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell is so obsessed with it that he created the Nashville Hot Chicken Festival. Mrs. H-CC and I attended this year for the second time. Only a glorious celebration of fried chicken and locally-brewed beer would lure us to stand in line for an hour to eat hot food outside, in the middle of the day, in 100 degree weather, with thousands of strangers.

But back to Amerigo…

While it may not be on par with Nashville’s Prince’s, it tastes pretty authentic. And the pairing with fettuccini and cream sauce is unique. It’s not something you could pair with a tomato sauce. Could have done with more scallions on top, for variety if nothing else.

The dish was good enough that I’d order it again. But it really just made me want more hot chicken.

What it Means to Truly Be Free

It’s Independence Day weekend. Once a year we light some fireworks and patron furniture sales to celebrate the birth of our nation, the greatest society in the history of mankind.

We also like to use this holiday as an excuse to eat. In that respect it’s not unlike any other holiday here in the South. Would be a great opportunity for me to blog about a juicy burger, baked beans made with bacon fat or some homemade pie.

But today I want to write about something unrelated to food, something much more important.

During communion in church this morning I had some thoughts.

First, I thought about the last time we had communion, when MiniMe got back to the pew and said aloud, “My cracker was yummy!”

Then I began thinking about how lucky I am to have been born and live in the greatest country in the world. More than 230 years ago a small group of courageous Englishmen had a dream and a plan. Today, despite how divided we have grown because of social and political differences, their dream of America is still very much alive, and I feel so blessed to be a part of it.

Among our most unique and precious freedoms in this country is the freedom of religion. Many people have forgotten, or chose to deny, that being able to worship who and how we want was their strongest motivator when our founding fathers escaped Europe to settle here.

I am a Christian and I believe in God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. I believe we can live in a land void of tyrannical men and oppressive man-made laws, but unless we accept the grace of God we can never be truly free here on earth.

By our very human nature we carry a selfish darkness that can be figurative chains within us. I know because I struggle with it continually.

It is His grace and His grace alone that allows us to let go of our sins and live a life of peace.

This divine plan is far greater even than the freedom we enjoy in the United States.

Freedom from ourselves is something we should celebrate every day.

Brooklyn’s in the House

*I acknowledge up front that this post is too long for a blog; go to Nick’s and you’ll see why.   

The old Nick’s Italian Deli was a highlight of my first career stint in downtown Nashville.  Our small group of friends and co-workers were there about once a week.  I couldn’t get enough. 

Then I took a job in the ‘burbs and was never able to make it to SoBro for lunch.  Time passed and I heard it closed.  I made my way through the standard grieving process – denial, anger, despair, and finally acceptance.  My cravings for pepperoni rolls and chicken parm subs went unsatisfied because I knew no other place could ever measure up. 

Then...one day...I stumbled across something online and learned a Nick’s location was open in Franklin, just down the road from my office.  Guess where I had lunch the next day?

These days I am conveniently in the area twice a week, and in the last couple of years have become a solid Nick’s customer again.  Not with the frequency of the old days, but with a more important mission: Schooling MiniMe on the difference between Chef Boyardee and good Italian food.  And she’s eating it up.  Literally.

What makes Nick’s special is that it is authentic.  It’s real.  It’s quality.  Whatever I order, and I've had a lot on the extensive menu, is consistently exceptional and priced fair.  And it all comes with a side of Brooklyn attitude.

The ambiance has changed a little over the years.  Ritzy Williamson County has different standards than downtown Nashville, I guess.  But two distinguishing characteristics remain: NY Yankee memorabilia, and art tributes to the classic wise guys in Goodfellas, The Sopranos and, of course, The Godfather.

Nick is the real-life Don of Italian food in Middle Tennessee.

Fuhgeddaboudit!