Nashville Hot Chicken News

Hangry Joe's to cook up Nashville-style hot chicken in southwest Dallas

There is your chicken sandwich combo with waffle fries and a drink.

Photo courtesy of Hangry Joe's

There's a new player in the Nashville-style hot chicken world coming to Dallas, with tenders, sandwiches, and the best name of all: Called Hangry Joe's Hot Chicken, it's a concept from Richmond, Virginia and it's making its Texas debut in southern Dallas, at 4140 W Camp Wisdom Rd., a block or so west of the Southwest Center Mall (aka the old Red Bird Mall).

Jay Kang, who's part of a team of restaurant entrepreneurs bringing Hangry Joe's to Dallas, says they're planning to be open in January 2022.

Calling it a chain is premature since Hangry Joe's was only just founded in May 2021. It's from Derek Cha — famous for having founded the Sweet Frog Frozen Yogurt chain 2009 — in collaboration with his partner, Mike Kim, who partnered up to create the very best Nashville-style hot chicken sandwich.

They brag that their sandwich is not only spicy-hot but also juicy and crisp.

There are currently two locations in Virginia, but with at least four more in the works.

Like most of these Nashville-style hot chicken places, Hangry Joe's has a fairly simple menu revolving around fried chicken tenders with a crunchy coating which you can get in varying levels of heat. Hangry's has five levels, the hottest being "Angry Hot."

There are:

chicken tenders, which they call chicken fingers
chicken sandwiches, served with cider slaw, pickle, and hangry sauce on a brioche bun
chicken & waffle, with 4 tenders and a funnel waffle

Their fries are waffle fries, which you can get plain as a side, or else loaded, topped with chicken, jalapeño, and cheese sauce. They also have fried okra, a nice treat.

Hangry has a couple of other noteworthy extras including a salad with chicken breast; and Korean chicken nuggets, served with rice and choice of soy garlic or spicy soy garlic.

The food is getting great reviews, says Kang, the Dallas franchisee; you need only skim their Facebook page to see the raves.

"It's unique and tasty," Kang says. "We know there's already a few Nashville-style chicken places in Dallas now, and we've tried them, but this tastes so different."

The other notable thing about this debut is that it's located south of I-30, in a city where much of the new opening buzz tends to be focused north. But this is only the beginning, Kang says.

"We're planning on opening a lot more locations in Dallas and in Texas," he says.

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Medium Rare steak frites restaurant closes on Dallas' Greenville Ave

Medium Rare/Facebook

Medium Rare is saying goodbye to Houston — for now.

A Washington, D.C.-based restaurant that only serves one entree is closing its Dallas outpost after only two years: Medium Rare, the trendy steak frites restaurant in the Lower Greenville neighborhood, will shut down after service on Sunday, September 13.

The Dallas news follows the closure of its Houston location on Sunday, September 4.

“After two incredible years in Dallas, we’re sorry to share that this Sunday night will be our final service,” the restaurant posted on social media. “To our Dallas community, thank you for welcoming us, sharing so many meals with us, and making Medium Rare part of your special moments."

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Founded in Washington, D.C. in 2011 by chef and restaurateur Mark Bucher, Medium Rare serves a very simple, prix-fixe menu. Every diner receives bread, a green salad, and steak frites — a coulotte (top sirloin) topped with a Bordelaise-style sauce and paired with hand cut fries — for about $30. Vegetarians may replace the steak with a grilled portobello topped with a roasted red pepper sauce. Even better, the price includes a second serving of steak and fries.

Diners can enhance their meal with oversized desserts like apple pie, a hot fudge sundae, or chocolate cake. The restaurant also serves weekend brunch, which draws a following for its bottomless mimosas.

The Dallas restaurant opened at 5631 Alta Ave. in the former Standard Service space in May 2024.

At the time, Bucher told CultureMap that he and his partner were bullish on Dallas and knew it well.

"My business partner graduated from SMU — Dallas is also where my college girlfriend lives, and I wanted to show her my success," Bucher said in 2024. "No, the reason we're here, we're rolling out across the country, with one location per NFL city."

"Dallas is an incredible food town, I feel it's underrated," he added. "It should be in the top 5 dining cities in the country. The talent of people available to work from culinary to front of the house is incredible. And we feel lucky to get our location on Greenville Avenue, where we'll be surrounded by great restaurants and bar operators."

They fueled a super buzzy steak frites trend around Dallas in mid-2024, which CultureMap captured in this roundup. They also became brought their popular Thanksgiving-time Medium Rare Free Turkey Fry event to Dallas in 2025.

Medium Rare might not be gone for good. "It’s not goodbye. Just goodbye for now," the closure post states. The restaurant's locations in Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia, and Boston remain open.

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Teresa Gubbins contributed to this story.

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