Delaware
Fiery, crispy Nashville hot chicken is coming to Delaware. Here’s what we know — and where
Nashville hot chicken: How hot is hot chicken?
Tennessean writer Brad Schmitt took two coworkers to 400 degrees in his search for the best hot chicken in Nashville.
The hottest trend in chicken is coming for Delaware.
Hangry Joe’s Hot Chicken & Wings — one of a steaming bouquet of fried chicken chains looking to capitalize on the newfound national popularity of fire-engine-red, cayenne-dipped fried chicken — will open this year in Dover’s new Capital Station shopping center, Capital owners R&R Commercial Realty announced this week.
The Dover Hangry Joe’s will be the chain’s first outlet in Delaware, and one of the only hot chicken spots in the state so far — though it’s unlikely this situation will last. Hangry Joe’s is already scouting the Wilmington area for another location, according to its website.
Hot chicken restaurants, whether corporate chains like Dave’s Hot Chicken or locally owned halal spots, have been sweeping the nation over the past year. Some blocks in New Jersey and Philadelphia now boast side-by side hot chicken spots. In Philly’s Old City neighborhood, four hot chicken spots exist within three blocks of each other.
Other chains like Colbie’s Southern Kissed Fried Chicken and Burger King have already gotten in on the game by offering their own, somewhat milder takes on Nashville-style hot chicken.
So what’s so hot about Nashville fried chicken? And precisely where and when will the Hangry’s open? Here’s what we know.
What’s Nashville hot chicken?
Nashville hot chicken is in fact Prince’s Hot Chicken.
Most of a century ago, Nashville’s Thornton Prince was a lean, smoldering-eyed and dashing man, a breaker of hearts who married five times and left romantic wreckage behind. One such broken heart, known by legend as “Girlfriend X,” decided on revenge. And so she made him fried chicken spiced so hot with cayenne and black pepper that it should liquefy your innards and burn out your soul.
Well, Thornton loved it, the story goes. He asked for seconds. He loved it so much he sold terrifyingly spicy chicken out of his home, then founded Prince’s Hot Chicken in 1945.
Now 80 years later, his family still serves bright-red cayenne-butter-pickle fried chicken at the famous Prince’s Hot Chicken shack in Nashville — a flavor that became known as “Nashville” hot chicken after the flavor spread to other restaurants around town and eventually the rest of the country.
What makes it different? Heat. Big heat. Actual heat. Earthy, toe-numbing, coma-inducing cayenne heat. Crispy breading, brined chicken, and bright red sauce made mostly of fat and cayenne pepper. Plus a pickle. What else would you ever need?
Anyway, over the past decade or so, “Nashville hot chicken” has gone from local delicacy to cult item to ubiquitous flavor — spawning several chains devoted to hot chicken that include Nashville’s own Hattie B’s in addition to Dave’s Hot Chicken, Joella’s Hot Chicken, Howlin’ Ray’s and, of course, Hangry Joe’s.
What’s different about Hangry Joe’s, and when will it open in Delaware?
Hangry Joe’s Hot Chicken and Wings, founded in Northern Virginia by partners Derek Cha and Mike Kim, devotes itself both to Nashville-hot fried chicken sandwiches and Korean-style wings — a duo of hot chicken tastes. Korean-born Cha is also a co-founder of the Sweet Frog frozen yogurt franchise.
Hangry Joe’s, founded in 2021, already boasts around 30 locations in Virginia and Maryland alone — plus multiple in the hot-chicken home of Tennessee, four within Philadelphia city limits, and a location in … Dubai.
The Dover location at the Capital Station shopping center on Division Street and DuPont Highway is slated to open in late fall or early winter this year, according to R & R construction, making it likely the first in Delaware. According to the Hangry Joe’s website, another Delaware location is already planned for Elsmere.
Charles Rodriguez, of R&R Commercial Realty, says the deal will mean that Capital Station is nearly fully leased.
“Capital Station has grown into one of Dover’s top business hubs,” Rodriguez wrote in a statement. “It has a strong mix of business types now and it attracts consistent traffic. It’s come a long way from its past life as the old, shuttered Playtex factory.”
Where else in Delaware can you find Nashville hot chicken?
Philly and the whole state of New Jersey are filling up with hot chicken restaurants — so much so that hot chicken restaurants sometimes open across the street from other hot chicken restaurants.
But a true cayenne-red, Nashville-style, hot fried chicken sandwich can be interestingly hard to find in Delaware at the moment. Delaware restaurants dedicated entirely to hot chicken are even harder to locate.
But simply cross the Pennsylvania border, and you can find yourself at FIRE Nashville Hot Chicken in West Chester and at the Booths Corner Farm Market.
Matthew Korfhage is business and development reporter in the Delaware region covering all things related to land and money: openings and closings, construction, and the many corporations who call the First State home. Send tips and insults to mkorfhage@gannett.com.
This story was produced by Spotlight Delaware as part of a partnership with Delaware Online/The News Journal. For more about Spotlight Delaware, visit www.spotlightdelaware.org.
A Delaware law passed last year in the wake of escalating assaults on the state’s corporate brand shielded powerful company leaders from facing certain lawsuits brought by smaller investors.
What it didn’t do was violate the Delaware Constitution, the state Supreme Court ruled on Friday, Feb. 27.
More than three months after hearing arguments, the justices ruled that the corporate law reform – known as Senate Bill 21 – did not strip Delaware’s prominent Court of Chancery of its constitutional authority to decide when a business deal is fair.
“The General Assembly’s enactment of SB 21 falls within the ‘broad and ample sweep’ of its legislative power,” the justices stated.
The ruling ends a bruising fight in Delaware over when the state’s business court should allow small-time investors to interrogate insider deals struck within companies by founders or other business leaders.
The ruling also averts what could have been an embarrassment for the state’s legal and political establishment had the high court overturned the law.
More than a year ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk — the world’s richest person — was calling on business leaders to move their companies’ legal homes out of Delaware. Musk had launched the campaign, which became known as “DExit,” after a Delaware Chancery Court judge ruled that he could not accept a multibillion-dollar pay package from Tesla.
Just as the campaign appeared to be gaining a foothold, Gov. Matt Meyer, legislative leaders, and Delaware attorneys who represent corporations threw their collective heft behind SB 21.
They argued then that the legislation amounted to a “course correction” that would bring the state’s business courts back into alignment with rulings from a decade ago. Many also said the bill was needed to pacify executives who were considering following Musk’s calls to move their companies’ legal homes out of Delaware.
In response, a cadre of critics — which included national law professors, pension fund attorneys, and a handful of progressives within the Delaware legislature — derided SB 21 as a “billionaires bill.”
Some also argued that the legislation was the latest in a string of recent changes to Delaware corporate law that have shifted the state away from protecting shareholder rights and toward giving greater deference to powerful executives.
Meyer and others SB 21 supporters rejected those characterizations last year. And on Friday, he celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling.
In a statement, he said the decision affirms that “Delaware is the gold standard locale for global companies to do business.” He also stated that the number of companies that maintain their legal home in Delaware had increased throughout 2025 despite the DExit campaign.
“In short, SB 21 is working, and I’m glad it will continue to be the law,” Meyer said.
The legal arguments for SB 21
When arguing against SB 21 in front of the Supreme Court last fall, one attorney asserted that the new law removed the Chancery Court’s time-honored and constitutional duty to say what is fair – or equitable – in a business dispute.
The attorney, Gregory Varallo, argued that by removing a shareholders’ ability to sue their company, the law reduced what he described as the immutable power of the Court of Chancery to oversee a “complete system of equity.”
During his arguments, Varallo also offered the justices an unusual acknowledgement, stating that he knew that his stance was unpopular — and that he understood “well the pressures on this court.”
The comments were a likely reference to the consensus of big business groups and the state’s political establishment that believed SB 21 was necessary for Delaware to remain the world’s preeminent corporate domicile.
Following Varallo, Washington, D.C.-based attorney Jonathan C. Bond defended SB 21, in part, by characterizing his opponents arguments as unprecedented. If adopted, he said they would imperil several existing Delaware laws that go back decades.
He also argued that changing the rules of corporate law – as SB 21 did – “is the same as wiping out jurisdiction merely because it makes some plaintiff’s claims harder.”
Also arguing in favor of SB 21 during the hearing was William Savitt, an attorney with the Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz – among the most prominent corporate law firms in the country.
Last spring, Meyer hired Savitt’s firm to represent the state in the legal defense of SB 21 for a budget rate of $100,000. By comparison, Wachtell Lipton charged Twitter $90 million in 2022 to ferry that company through its arduous, four-month-long acquisition by Elon Musk.
Wachtell’s client list also includes Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta executives and board members, who last summer settled a seven-year-long, multibillion-dollar shareholder lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court.
During his arguments on SB 21, Savitt said equity as determined by judges must follow the statutes created by the legislature, and “not displace the law.”
“No natural reading of the words (of the Delaware Constitution) support plaintiff’s position,” he said.
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What to do if you come across a serious car accident
Here is some information about what to do if you come across a serious car accident.
State police identified 29-year-old Brian Silva of New Castle as the victim of a fatal motorcycle crash in Wilmington.
Silva was riding a Harley-Davidson northbound on Dupont Highway approaching Millside Drive in Wilmington around 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 27 when it collided with the rear of a stopped Lexus at that intersection, police said. Silva was ejected from the motorcycle. He was taken to the hospital, where he died.
Delaware State Police are still investigating this incident, and anyone with information is encouraged to reach out to them or to Delaware Crime Stoppers.
Ever seen a spring peeper peep?
A spring peeper singing in the Millsboro area.
Meteorological winter has ended and we’ve entered spring.
However, there’s still a last winter blast hitting Delaware early this week before a spring warm up hits at the end of the week.
Here’s a look at the Delaware forecast.
Will Delaware see more snow?
After a brisk Monday, March 2 with sunny skies and highs only reaching 35 degrees, there’s a chance of snow after 1 a.m. Tuesday, March 3 with freezing rain after 4 a.m. in New Castle County. Snow and freezing rain are expected before noon Tuesday, March 3. The county may receive less than a half inch of accumulation.
In Kent County and Sussex County, there’s a chance of snow and freezing rain after 1 a.m. Tuesday, March 3.
When will it warm up in Delaware?
It will start feeling like spring as warmer air moves into the First State on Tuesday evening, March 3, but wet weather is coming as well.
Rain is predicted from Tuesday, March 3 through Friday, March 5, but spring-like temperatures will make it bearable. In New Castle County temperatures will range from the mid-50s on Wednesday, March 3 to the 60s on Thursday, March 4 and Friday, March 5. Kent County should see temperatures in the 60s and Sussex County will see 70s during the mid- to later part of the week
What’s the weekend forecast?
Remember when you were daydreaming about warm weather during the polar vortex or blizzard? Well, it is coming next weekend.
The forecast is calling for sunny to partly sunny skies throughout Delaware on Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8. Highs will reach the upper 60s in the north to the low 70s in the south.
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