Peaches Hothouse has been on my infamous, ever-growing "List" for years now-- and thanks to 2 friends as game for good food as I am, we recently made it happen!
We got there a bit before the dinner rush, so there was no wait (rare!) for our table.
Peaches offers all sorts of Southern fare, but we were all about their famous "Nashville-style" Hot Chicken. I got the plain old hot chicken, while my 2 friends, K & M, ordered the EXTRA HOT. They will warn you that the EXTRA HOT is painfully hot. In fact, our server said "I don't recommend it to ANYONE." We decided to live a little and proceed anyway.
We also ordered some drinks! Cheers!
My first drink was the Ma Rainey, made with Ciroc peach, peach Schnapps, and fruit juice. This tasted dangerously like the best fruit punch you ever did drink. Yum.
K ordered a Lightning drink-- I can't remember what's in it, but I know K liked it.
M ordered the Howling Wolf (ginger beer, goslings and lime - aka dark and stormy) and enjoyed that, too!
But back to the chicken-- it's heavily spiced, I think mostly with cayenne pepper, and it's juicy, delicious, and yes, a little hot. But only a little! I ate the hot and while I enjoy hot food, I do not enjoy melting my face off, so I felt like this was just right.
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| My regular hot chicken with mac & cheese |
I don't care what is in this chicken-- I have never devoured a fried chicken like I did this day. Normally gristle and tendons and snappy things hold me back-- not at Peaches! There was little more than bones left on my plate when it was all over. Easily some of the best friend chicken I've ever had the pleasure of eating. The mashed potatoes and mac and cheese were both excellent-- I only had a bite of the cole slaw, and I thought it was okay, but generally I do not like it anyway, so what the hell do I know?
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| Extra hot w/mashed potatoes |
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| Extra hot with "crispy" cole slaw |
It was hot, yes, but a slow, building, prickly heat. By the time you finish your meal, you might be sweating a little, but you're not in pain. You're just full and happy and you're maybe a bit warm. Have an ice-cold drink!
For round 2, K & I ordered the Georgia Peach, sweet tea with a kick. This was good and comes in a big Mason jar, but it wasn't quite as good as the Ma Rainey. I did enjoy it, but I'd rather have had another Ma Rainey.
We even went for dessert: rum cake with ice cream for K & me, and the chocolate cake for M, who isn't a fan of rum. I have to say I tasted more coconut than rum in the cake, which was buttery and light and way better than I expected. This was a winner.
M shared some of her chocolate cake, which was also delicious and had plenty of rich chocolate icing. Good, but not as good as the rum cake.
By the time we left, there was a growing group of people waiting outside for tables. This food is worth the wait, but I'm happy we didn't have to go through that part!
Service was excellent, we ate every bite of our food, and our eyes almost popped out of our heads when we saw our drinks were FIVE DOLLARS EACH. That's unheard of in NYC. One more reason to love Brooklyn!
Peaches Hothouse
415 Tompkins Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11216
(718) 483-9111
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