{"id":51322,"date":"2024-09-02T00:01:57","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T06:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=51322"},"modified":"2026-04-05T13:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T19:59:14","slug":"firebird-nashville-fried-chicken-albuquerque-new-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=51322","title":{"rendered":"Chile Chicken Nashville Hot Chicken – Albuquerque, New Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chile Chicken Nashville Hot Chicken (Formerly Firebird Nashville Hot Chicken)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My brother Mario–seven years younger, much better looking and quite a bit smarter–and I have shared many memorable firsts. There was the time I taught him how to drive on our dad’s 1965 standard transmission Chevrolet pickup truck.\u00a0 He was a quick study, soon terrifying our grandmother with drifting<\/a><\/strong> skills Formula D drivers would envy.\u00a0 I took him to his first championship wrestling match at Albuquerque’s Civic Auditorium where we watched “Rapid” Ricky Romero dispatch “Yellow Belly” Robley.\u00a0 Mario would go on to similarly dominate high school wrestling opponents (though unlike Robley, he didn’t pull “foreign objects” from his trunks with which to beat his opponents).\u00a0 Already in our grizzled 30s, we once beat two much younger (and ostensibly more fit) starters on Pe\u00f1asco’s state championship basketball team.\u00a0 That may not have been a first, but like the four touchdowns scored by Al Bundy, it was one of those youth-reclaiming victories we’ll boast of well into our 80s.\u00a0 Fittingly, I was with Mario when he experienced Nashville hot chicken for the first time.<\/p>\n

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Place Your Order at A Counter and Your Meal Will be Ready in a Few Minutes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are some things brothers will confide only in one another.\u00a0 One of us told the other the Nashville hot chicken too hot to handle, but the name of the brother to make that startling and cowardly admission is not something that will be divulged here.\u00a0 Nor will there be any jokes about taking away his (or my) man card.\u00a0 Nor will we disclose which of us in a teary-eyed coughing and sputtering fit uttered “no mas” after finishing but half of the hot chicken sandwich we shared.\u00a0 Not even Rudy Vigil, who recommended FireBird Nashville Hot Chicken to us, will pry that blackmail-worthy nugget from us.\u00a0 Besides, Rudy as I’m led to understand, ordered his Nashville hot chicken at the wimpy “mild” degree of heat so he’s not likely to cast aspersions.<\/p>\n

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Chicken Breast<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before you cast the first chicken bone and brag about the time you ate two cinnamon red hots without drinking water…or about the time you ate half a bag of Lay’s Sriracha flavored potato chips…or how on a dare you once ate a tube of Ultra Brite toothpaste–try walking a mile in our shoes and eating Nashville hot chicken at the “really clucking hot” degree of piquancy.\u00a0 Conquering Nashville hot chicken at the level at which we ordered it puts us (or at least one of us) at the same pain threshold level as the circus fire-eater.\u00a0 Had we consumed the entirety of the hot chicken sandwich sans bun, we’d be on that pantheon of manliness alongside Chuck Norris and Roger Staubach.<\/p>\n

Nashville hot chicken packs a punch!\u00a0 As Mario put it, “it’s much hotter than Sadie’s<\/a><\/strong> chile<\/em>.”\u00a0 It’s so hot, it would make a Carolina Reaper sweat.\u00a0 Okay, maybe it really doesn’t pack 1.6 million Scoville units of heat as the Carolina Reaper does, but it sure feels that way.\u00a0 Unlike the type of heat that sneaks up on you and doesn’t burn until after<\/em> you’ve declared it “not very hot,” Nashville hot chicken attacks you from the start.\u00a0 It’s got the aggressiveness of the Tasmanian Devil and the ferocity of The Dude, our debonair dachshund, as he threatens the interloping mailman.<\/p>\n

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Chicken Sandwich<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nashville hot chicken, as its name indicates, has its genesis in Music City U.S.A.\u00a0 It all started in the 1930s when a charming philanderer named Thornton Prince cheated on one woman too many.\u00a0 Instead of walking out, his most recent conquest conceived a different way to get even.\u00a0 Knowing that after staying out all night Thornton would come home expecting breakfast, she didn’t prepare a typical bland, hangover-assuaging meal.\u00a0 She made him fried chicken with all the spiciest items available in the kitchen.\u00a0 Alas, the best-laid plans of scorned girlfriends often go awry.\u00a0 Not only did Thornton love the hot chicken, so did his brothers.\u00a0 They turned her idea into Prince’s Hot Chicken.\u00a0 The rest, as the proverbial “they” is history.<\/p>\n

The Nashville Hot Chicken Coalition<\/strong><\/a> whose motto is “to protect and to burn” tells us “While each Nashville Hot Chicken restaurant may have their own secret blend of spices, many note that it’s not just an intense amount of heat that makes it authentic, it’s that heat and\u00a0flavor. The chicken is fried and coated in these seasonings, most typically in a “dry” sauce – often made with a base of lard or oil. The use of a “wet” sauce (such as Buffalo-style chicken) is NOT Nashville Hot Chicken<\/em>.”\u00a0 The site adds: “What really makes it authentic is…the finished flavor of the chicken itself. It’s overwhelmingly spicy, yet abundantly flavorful<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

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Leg and Thigh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The finished flavor of the hot chicken at Chile Chicken Nashville Hot Chicken (formerly Firebird Nashville Hot Chicken) is both overwhelmingly spicy and abundantly flavorful.\u00a0 That’s probably why every seat was occupied with a line twenty deep waiting to place their orders when Mario and I arrived.\u00a0 Several hirsute male masochists (including a couple of knuckle-draggers sporting New York Giants caps) came to test their mettle against the potent poultry.\u00a0 Some of the women we observed also ordered their chicken at the “really cluckin hot” level just as we did for the chicken sandwich we split.\u00a0 Piquancy levels are mild, medium, hot, cluckin hot and really cluckin hot.<\/p>\n

Chile Chicken’s torrid temptations aren’t limited to hot fried chicken though that’s understandably the big draw.\u00a0 The menu also boasts of barbecue pulled pork and chopped brisket sandwiches as well as catfish.\u00a0 Okay, enough about them.\u00a0 Nashville hot chicken comes in many forms such as\u00a0 “Hot Cluck” meals, served with white bread, pickles and a beverage.\u00a0 Meals include legs and thighs, breasts and wings, tenders and half birds. You can also order hot chicken with waffles.\u00a0 Sides aren’t quite as fiery.\u00a0 They include crispy fries, onion rings, cornbread, fried okra, mashed potatoes and gravy and several other Southern staples.\u00a0 For dessert, there’s banana pudding and pecan pie.<\/p>\n

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Chicken Wing and Breast<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

15 March 2019<\/strong>: Chile Chicken’s hot chicken sandwich<\/strong><\/em> is constructed from a hot chicken boneless breast so large you might wonder if it came from an ostrich or maybe a pterodactyl.\u00a0 It extends far beyond its sizeable buns (insert your own Kim Kardashian joke here).\u00a0 The chicken breast is generously topped with a sweet coleslaw that does little to obfuscate the hot chicken’s heat.\u00a0 This sandwich is a rarity in that not only does the chicken burn, burn, burn like a certain Johnny Cash song, it tastes really good.\u00a0 Yes, despite its piquancy, you’ll be able to taste and appreciate the deliciousness of fried hot chicken.\u00a0 The sandwich comes with one side.\u00a0 Make it the very good Southern cornbread<\/strong><\/em> in a cupcake baking cup which does a good job taking away some of the hot chicken’s bite.<\/p>\n

15 March 2019<\/strong>: If you do order one item of hot chicken at the really cluckin’ hot level and another item at a lesser degree of piquancy, make sure you eat the meeker hot chicken first.\u00a0 If you don’t, you risk not being able to fully appreciate the less potent poultry until the burn from the volcano-level hot chicken has been extinguished.\u00a0 That was the case in our experience.\u00a0 We should have consumed the leg and thigh<\/strong><\/em> which we ordered at the “medium” level first.\u00a0 Despite scalded taste buds and charred tongues from the really cluckin hot chicken sandwich, it was obvious the leg and thigh were superb.\u00a0 As in, nearly as good as my mom’s fried chicken good.<\/p>\n

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Chicken and Waffle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

06 April 2019: <\/strong>Homer Simpson’s bucket list actually includes a bucket.\u00a0 A bucket of fried chicken, that is.\u00a0 Of course, his bucket would also include shrimp, tartar sauce, chili, popcorn and cholesterol medicine.\u00a0 Maybe it doesn’t rise to the level of bucket list wish, but one of my Kim’s fondest wishes is for the Duke City to enjoy fried chicken as transformative as we discovered during our November, 2018 visit to Gus’s World-Famous Fried Chicken<\/strong><\/a> in Austin. After her inaugural visit to Chile Chicken, she used such terms as “the next best thing to Gus’s<\/em>” and “the best fried chicken in Albuquerque<\/em>.”\u00a0 As someone who’s been preparing my mom’s fried chicken recipe for more than three decades, she should know.<\/p>\n

Of course, being of the smarter gender, she saw no need to prove how much pain she can endure so she ordered her hot chicken at the Rudy Vigil (mild) level.\u00a0 Just in case mild was a misnomer, she ordered her chicken (leg and thigh) with a waffle.\u00a0 Indeed, at the mild level, the focus is exclusively on the peerless flavor of the poultry.\u00a0 She even ate the\u00a0 crispy, golden skin, something she almost never does.\u00a0 The single golden waffle doused in sweet syrup is a perfect foil for the salty, savory chicken.\u00a0 These are among the very best Chicken and waffles<\/strong><\/em> in the metropolitan area.<\/p>\n

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Chicken Fried Chicken with Nashville Corn and Mashed Potatoes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2 September 2024:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>During my first reason post-Cabrona virus, I was joined by my Nader Khalil and Elaine Rising, my very dearest friends from the University of New Mexico.\u00a0 It was Elaine’s first visit to Chile Chicken.\u00a0 Nader, who had visited once previously with me, knew what we were getting ourselves into.\u00a0 He decided to forego daring dining, opting instead for actually “being able to taste his chicken<\/em>.”\u00a0 Nader and I both ordered the chicken fried chicken<\/strong><\/em> (in your choice of heat level with white gravy and two sides) at a “medium” degree of manliness.\u00a0 It’s a relatively new addition to a formidable menu.<\/p>\n

Unlike chicken fried steak which some restaurants pound to a supermodel thinness (no meat-pounding jokes, please), Chile Chicken’s version is rather thick, perfect for the thick breading applied.\u00a0 Frankly, it could use a bit more gravy, but I should have asked for more of that precious life’s blood when ordering.\u00a0 \u00a0The mashed potatoes, too lumpy for my liking, could have used more gravy, too.\u00a0 A better side is the Nashville corn<\/strong><\/em> (mild Nashville seasoned corn) which only hints at piquant potency.\u00a0 Two ears of sweet corn-on-the-cob slathered with butter and sprinkled with powder will go quickly.<\/p>\n

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Banana Pudding<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

15 March 2019<\/strong>: Another lesson learned for next time we decide we want the “pain is a flavor” level is to use the banana pudding<\/strong><\/em> as a palate cleanser…or more appropriately, a coolant in between bites.\u00a0 Not only is this banana pudding among the very best in the city (along with the banana pudding at Vick’s Vittles<\/strong><\/a>), it’s served cold and really tames the heat of the chicken.\u00a0 There’s a bounty of bananas in each cup and the vanilla wafers are fresh and crisp, not soft and mushy.<\/p>\n

Chile Chicken Nashville Hot Chicken is the sister restaurant of Down N’ Dirty Seafood Boil<\/strong><\/a>, the great folks who introduced Albuquerque to the seafood boil.\u00a0 Trust them to begin another food trend that has captured the imagination and taste buds of Duke City diners, including those of two brothers who won’t betray which one is wimpier than the other.<\/p>\n

Chile Chicken Nashville Hot Chicken<\/strong>
\n3005 Eubank, N.E.
\nAlbuquerque, New Mexico<\/strong>
\n(505) 293-1700
\nFacebook Page<\/strong><\/a>
\nLATEST VISIT<\/strong>: 2 September 2024
\n1st VISIT<\/strong>: 15 March 2019
\n# OF VISITS<\/strong>: 6
\nRATING<\/strong>: Very Good<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Good to very good food; generally solid; delivers consistent quality, strong technique, and a comfortable, enjoyable dining experience
\nCOST<\/strong>: $$
\nBEST BET<\/strong>:\u00a0 Hot Chicken Sandwich, Thigh and Leg, Wing and Breast Cornbread, Banana Pudding, Chicken & Waffle, Chicken Fried Chicken
\nREVIEW #1101 <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My brother Mario–seven years younger, much better looking and quite a bit smarter–and I have shared many memorable firsts. There was the time I taught him how to drive on our dad’s 1965 standard transmission Chevrolet pickup truck.\u00a0 He was a quick study, soon terrifying our grandmother with drifting skills Formula D drivers would envy.\u00a0 I took him to his first championship wrestling match at Albuquerque’s Civic Auditorium where we watched “Rapid” Ricky Romero dispatch “Yellow Belly” Robley.\u00a0 Mario would go on to similarly dominate high school wrestling opponents (though unlike Robley, he didn’t pull “foreign objects” from his trunks with which to beat his opponents).\u00a0 Already in our grizzled 30s, we once beat two much younger (and ostensibly more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[440,522,703,141,5631],"tags":[2717,2452,2923,2706,735,4281,4280,4279,1388,4282,4283],"class_list":["post-51322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-albuquerque","category-chicken","category-dog-friendly","category-new-mexico","category-very-good","tag-banana-pudding","tag-chicken-and-waffles","tag-chicken-fried-chicken","tag-chicken-sandwich","tag-cornbread","tag-firebird-nashville-hot-chicken","tag-mashed-potatoes-with-gravy","tag-nashville-corn","tag-nashville-hot-chicken","tag-nashville-hot-chicken-coalition","tag-really-cluckin-hot"],"yoast_head":"\nChile Chicken Nashville Hot Chicken - Albuquerque, New Mexico - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=51322\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chile Chicken Nashville Hot Chicken - Albuquerque, New Mexico - Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My brother Mario–seven years younger, much better looking and quite a bit smarter–and I have shared many memorable firsts. There was the time I taught him how to drive on our dad’s 1965 standard transmission Chevrolet pickup truck.\u00a0 He was a quick study, soon terrifying our grandmother with drifting skills Formula D drivers would envy.\u00a0 I took him to his first championship wrestling match at Albuquerque’s Civic Auditorium where we watched “Rapid” Ricky Romero dispatch “Yellow Belly” Robley.\u00a0 Mario would go on to similarly dominate high school wrestling opponents (though unlike Robley, he didn’t pull “foreign objects” from his trunks with which to beat his opponents).\u00a0 Already in our grizzled 30s, we once beat two much younger (and ostensibly more…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/?p=51322\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nmgastronome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-02T06:01:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-05T19:59:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.nmgastronome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ChileChicken03-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1690\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gil Garduno\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gil Garduno\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nmgastronome.com\\\/?p=51322#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nmgastronome.com\\\/?p=51322\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gil Garduno\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nmgastronome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/423b9c3eeeb199e43ab4f1f584fa67bf\"},\"headline\":\"Chile Chicken Nashville Hot Chicken – Albuquerque, New Mexico\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-02T06:01:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-05T19:59:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nmgastronome.com\\\/?p=51322\"},\"wordCount\":2034,\"commentCount\":24,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nmgastronome.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nmgastronome.com\\\/?p=51322#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nmgastronome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/ChileChicken03-scaled.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Banana Pudding\",\"Chicken and Waffles\",\"Chicken Fried Chicken\",\"Chicken Sandwich\",\"cornbread\",\"Firebird Nashville Hot Chicken\",\"Mashed Potatoes With Gravy\",\"Nashville Corn\",\"Nashville Hot Chicken\",\"Nashville Hot Chicken Coalition\",\"Really Cluckin' Hot\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Albuquerque\",\"Chicken\",\"Dog Friendly\",\"New Mexico\",\"Rating: Very Good\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nmgastronome.com\\\/?p=51322#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nmgastronome.com\\\/?p=51322\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nmgastronome.com\\\/?p=51322\",\"name\":\"Chile Chicken Nashville Hot Chicken - 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