I spent a week eating through LA's fast-food scene, and the best thing I ate was a hot chicken sandwich at Howlin' Ray's
- I spent a week eating through Los Angeles' fast-food and fast-casual scene.
- My trip was stuffed with delicious meals, but the most memorable thing I ate, by far, was a chicken sandwich at Howlin' Ray's, a Nashville-style hot-chicken restaurant in Chinatown.
- Howlin' Ray's took an already-perfect chicken sandwich to the next level with the use of tantalizing chili powder. That sandwich beat out the amazing meals I had at In-N-Out, Fatburger, and Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles.
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2019 was the year of the chicken sandwich, and I ended it with a bang in Los Angeles. I spent a week in December eating through LA's most popular fast-food and fast-casual chain restaurants.
Howlin' Ray's technically isn't a chain - yet. The Nashville-style hot-chicken hawker in Chinatown plans to open a second location in Pasadena in 2020. And with all the hot-chicken copycats creeping up around the City of Angels, the reach of Howlin' Ray's extends far beyond its single restaurant location.
Some say Howlin' Ray's started the hot-chicken craze in Los Angeles. A burning craving for hot chicken leads droves of Angelenos to wait for hours in an otherwise nondescript open-air mall just for a taste of Ray's famous spicy bird.
I ate a lot of good food in Los Angeles. Highlights include a glorious double-double at In-N-Out, a juicy Fatburger, and chicken and waffles at Roscoe's. But the award for best bite, without a doubt, goes to Howlin' Ray's.
Like every chicken-chomping chump in Chinatown, I had to do the time in the hours-long line before I was able to get my foot in the door.
How good does a sandwich have to be in order to be worth a two-hour wait? As good as Howlin' Ray's "The Sandwich."
I got mine medium hot, but that was more than enough heat to make me reach for my lemonade.
Let's talk pickles. Let's talk coleslaw. Let's talk spicy, crispy chicken joining souls with the cool crunch of tangy vegetables. Let's talk sweet, sweet buttered brioche bun blanketing a sizzling, sauced-up core of the things I mentioned before.
Heaven is a place on earth, and that place is Howlin' Ray's.
What really makes this fried chicken special is the chili powder in its batter. You can smell the heat from a hundred feet away. If you've never smelled chili powder frying in oil, know that it's a smell that tickles one's anticipation. It's nutty, savory beyond belief, with only a tantalizing hint of heat. Fried chili powder is like fairy dust - it lifts you up by the nostrils and floats you gently to the source of the scent.
I've had many a chicken sandwich before in my life. Nothing - not even Popeyes - comes close to the magical mouthful that is Howlin' Ray's sandwich.
Next time I'm in LA, I'm skipping right past Chick-fil-A with a book and a footstool in hand. And I'm hopping in line.