C/o Haven Hot Chicken

I will admit, I was surprised to receive an email inviting me and a guest to a media event for a Haven Hot Chicken opening in Middletown with samples of free food. It was the kind of thing that seemed too good to be true…or maybe it was just because that kind of thing hadn’t happened to the Food Section of The Argus so far in its one-year resurgence.

To top it all off, the cuisine in question was Nashville hot chicken! In the origin story for this dish, a cheating husband returned home one night to a deviously seasoned, ultra-spicy batch of chicken prepared by his wife, who was seeking revenge. To her dismay, the husband loved the chicken, reveling in the extremely high spice content mixed with the hot oil.

I quickly texted my lovely co-editor Gemmarosa Ryan ’24, and when the day rolled around, we found ourselves strolling up to a small, brightly lit restaurant on Main Street, just off of Washington Street. The staff for the event, which included the manager of this new restaurant (their sixth!), the PR rep, one of the owners of the franchise, and a professional photographer, were all incredibly attentive and kind. Even though the event was sparsely populated, a sense of excitement and fervor hung in the air, mingling with the scents of spicy Nashville rub and the wafting oil cooking the chicken and fries.

Co-founder Jason Sobocinski explained to Gemma and me the origin story of this upscale chain restaurant. It revolves around the founders’ love for Nashville hot chicken and their desire to share the classic sandwich, as well as other specialties like loaded fries and a limited-edition kale salad, across Connecticut. Now that the chicken spot has had so much success, they are placing more of an emphasis on philanthropy around Connecticut, especially in the towns where their restaurants are located.

Gemma and I lingered around the establishment, chatting with various members of the team and, more importantly, waiting patiently with watering mouths for our humongous order of food to be ready. When we finally dove in, it was a fried-chicken lover’s paradise: bite-size pieces of chicken coated in ranch and their special “Rob” sauce atop fries; fat, juicy tenders; and the king of it all, a massive Nashville hot chicken sandwich. Seconds after I bit in, I felt like I could breathe fire, yet somehow I couldn’t stop eating.

I didn’t stop until my mouth was literally burnt to a crisp, feeling like the main character from the origin story of Nashville’s famous chicken told to us by Sobocinski. Though I never thought that I would thank a cheater, I am genuinely grateful for this adulterer and the wonderfully aggressive chicken he inspired.

Lewis Woloch can be reached at lwoloch@wesleyan.edu.