Nashville-style hot chicken is huge. Japanese fried chicken is huge. Now, in Glendale, one of the country’s most prolific chefs is combining the two with a new operation that blends the spicy Southern classic with Japanese ingredients, sides and sentiment.
Today Michael Mina is best known in L.A. for Bourbon Steak, his modern steakhouse tucked into the Americana at Brand, but he’s spent roughly two decades opening restaurants that run the gamut, from a whiskey bar in Wyoming to his Michelin-starred, eponymous fine dining spot in San Francisco. Recently, he’s been turning his attention to his latest: Tokyo Hot Chicken, a casual new delivery- and takeout-only restaurant built for the era of at-home dining—and as of last week, we’ve got one in Glendale.
Tokyo Hot Chicken is operating as a ghost kitchen, using Bourbon Steak’s facilities to brine, batter and fry chicken into a karaage–meets–Nashville-hot hybrid. Every day from 5 to 9pm you can order chicken tenders, chicken “snacker” sandwiches, and buckets of chicken, which are available as a mix of drumsticks, wings and thighs and can arrive with four, eight or 12 pieces.
The bird gets double-dredged in a breading made of both flour and panko and it’s seasoned with a number of spices, including Japanese togarashi. If you’re looking to turn up the Japanese flavor even further, dip options include a Tokyo Secret Hot sauce made with yuzu and Thai chilies; a yuzu-kosho honey sauce; and a classic chuka tare with soy, sesame and chilies, among others.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a fried-chicken dinner without plenty of sides, and Mina’s seen to it that we’ve all got plenty of options: Wasabi mashed potatoes, furikake rice, dashi-braised kale, miso corn, soy caramel Brussels sprouts and togarashi-flecked Parker House-inspired rolls are just a few of the items to round out your crispy chicken, with matcha lemonades and ice green teas to wash it all down.
Tokyo Hot Chicken is now open in Glendale with daily hours of 5 to 9pm. Order online for delivery and/or pickup at 237 Service Dr at the Americana at Brand.
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