This new restaurant chain is ‘coming in hot’ to Meridian. Guess what it serves?

Forget Dave’s Hot Chicken. Could someone open a Dave’s Not Chicken?

Kidding! (Sorta.) One month after the Idaho Statesman published an article titled “Meridian is for the birds. Yet another chicken chain opens this week,” I’m struggling to come up with an original way to say the same thing again.

It’s not Slim Chickens this time. Not Clucks. Not Dave’s, either.

The latest poultry chain to flock to Boise’s little brother to the west?

Say hello to Houston TX Hot Chicken.

The modest, growing brand will celebrate its grand opening from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16, at 1184 S. Silverstone Way. The headline of a media release that rolled into the Statesman newsroom’s email inbox? “Houston TX Hot Chicken coming in hot with first Idaho location.”

Founded in 2020, the brand — which abbreviates itself as HHC — also has locations in Texas (of course), Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.

Here’s more from the marketing spiel: “Houston TX Hot Chicken prides itself on serving fresh, never frozen, organic, halal, cage-free, antibiotic-free, and hormone-free chicken sandwiches and tenders ... In addition to their Original Hot Chicken Sandwiches, the concept also offers Tenders & Waffles, Fusion Fries, House Lemonades and more.

“HHC Meridian will host a grand opening event on (Sept. 16) featuring complimentary, signature hot chicken sandwiches throughout the day for all attendees. ... Guests can also participate in HHC’s signature Spice Challenge, where brave participants will sign a waiver before chowing down on three HHC tenders featuring their Houston, We Have a Problem seasoning. The first person to finish all three tenders and go at least three minutes without drinking any water can walk away with not only bragging rights, but also $1,000.”

Free chicken sandwiches? That’s a sweet deal, right? And $1,000 for a bit of intense suffering — assuming that your emergency room bill isn’t higher than that? Why not? (Dude, at 2 million Scoville Heat Units, that Houston, We Have a Problem spice might truly cause problems.) HHC offers seven dry-rub spice levels, by the way — including no spice and honey-butter, which has zero heat.

If you check out HHC’s website (hhc.ooo), you’ll see that the menu is fairly standard for the cuisine style. The Original Hot Chicken sandwich with fries is $12.99. You can get two chicken tenders with a Belgian waffle and seasoned fries for the same price. Chopped chicken tenders come on top of Loaded Fries for, yep, $12.99. You also can get a Southwest Salad with the chopped tenders for $13.99. Or enjoy Chicken Tortilla Soup for $4.99.

HHC offers eight dipping sauces — half made in-house — for 50 cents each. And milkshakes range from standard flavors at $4.99 to the tasty-looking Cookie Crumble and Waffle Shake for $7.99.

Speaking of tasty, exactly how good is this place? Well, HHC says it was “ranked Top Place to Eat in Vegas 2021 on Yelp.”

Checking Yelp reviews randomly — let’s hit the location in Henderson, Nevada, for example — it does look promising: 4.6 out of 5.0 stars.

“Was it delicious? YES,” wrote an August reviewer. “Did it live up to the hype? Not really, but it was better than other fast-food chicken sandwiches.”

If that’s actually the case in chicken-crazed Meridian? HHC is probably worth checking out.

▪ Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.