Hotbird Unleashes Its Locally-Famous Fried Chicken Sandwiches on Market Street - Eater SF

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Nashville hot chicken aficionados in San Francisco have been waiting the better part of a year for Hotbird, one of the Bay Area’s most prominent purveyors of the style, to open its first restaurant — as one of the headliners for a glitzy new food hall at 1355 Market Street, in the Twitter building.

And, well, that still hasn’t quite opened yet. But, as of yesterday, the spicy chicken sandwiches have landed: Tired of waiting for COVID-related construction delays to resolve themselves, Hotbird co-owners Aaron Nam and Caleb Longacre decided to start selling a bare-bones menu — just their signature sandwich and Arnold Palmers to drink — out of a prep kitchen located in the same space. They’ll sell a limited number of the fiery, Nashville-style sandwiches for takeout via online pre-ordering each day, Tuesday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m., or until they sell out.

The often mouth-searingly spicy style of chicken, pioneered by Nashville institutions like Prince’s Fried Chicken Shack, involves tossing fried chicken in hot oil mixed with chiles and other spices. It was only a matter of months ago when it seemed like the buzziest food trend to hit the Bay, with a new Nashville hot chicken spot opening every couple of months, often with lines that stretched around the proverbial block. In fact, for many months Hotbird, which started as an Oakland-based mobile food operation in 2017, was a staple of the Presidio Picnic location of Off the Grid — easily recognizable as the truck with the longest line.

If the shop’s first day back in business was any indication, not much has changed: Hotbird sold out of all 120 sandwiches it was prepared to make an hour after it opened for online ordering.

“It was really good and really crazy,” Nam tells Eater SF. “There was already a line before we opened.”

At the beginning of the year, it looked like Hotbird was all set to open its food hall location by the end of March, but COVID-19 hit and snarled construction plans. Nam says Hotbird was fortunate to find its current, temporary spot in the Twitter building — a kitchen affiliated with the Market food hall, which is operated by the same folks who are opening the forthcoming “Market Square Food Hall” next door. The exact spot is a little bit hard to find, Nam says: It faces “the Lawn,” an outdoor courtyard area within the Twitter campus, which means there’s also room for customers who want to sit down and eat their sandwiches outdoors.

Hotbird’s temporary spot, which faces an outdoor courtyard at the Twitter building

Hotbird

According to Nam, Hotbird’s particular take on Nashville hot chicken differs from other Bay Area versions in a few key ways: Most notably (and perhaps somewhat controversially), the shop uses Mary’s boneless chicken breasts instead of thighs, and it uses expensive rice bran oil to do the frying. The sandwiches are available at five different spice levels, and while word on the street indicates that the highest, “burnin’” level is nearly impossible to tolerate, Nam says he still gets a handful of customers who say they’d like it even spicier. Fair enough, Nam says: “We might do a secret, off-the-menu spice level.”

Starting later this week, Hotbird will add a few other extras to the menu: fries and hot wings served on buttered white bread with slaw and pickles. When the full restaurant opens, it will have a full lineup of other chicken sandwiches — not only the spicy Nashville style.

As for that permanent storefront, Nam says he’s currently hoping to open by the middle of 2021. Construction is mostly done, so it’s all contingent on when the food hall itself is ready to open — which should happen in January, according to a representative for the Market. That said, Nam says he’s already had to postpone the opening so many times that he’d rather give a more conservative estimate at this point.

Hotbird is currently open for takeout at 1355 Market Street, Ste. 180, on a pre-order only basis, Tuesday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m.–3 p.m. (It will be closed this Saturday, September 26, for an R&D day). Pre-order online starting at 11:30 a.m.

1355 Market Street, , CA 94103

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September 24, 2020 at 03:36AM
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Hotbird Unleashes Its Locally-Famous Fried Chicken Sandwiches on Market Street - Eater SF

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