If you’ve been keeping up with popular food, then you already know that Hot Chicken restaurants have been popping up left and right across major cities. It’s so popular that even South LA has two brick-and-mortar hot chicken restaurants. Our favorite hot chicken place in all of LA and South LA is Hotville Chicken, which Ari and I reviewed a while back. But, there’s always room for (con)tenders to change our opinions.
With that in mind, we’re looking at the new California Hot Chicken at USC located near Figueroa and 32nd streets.
We visited the California Hot Chicken Restaurant just before 8 p.m. on a Friday night. Walking in, we really liked the simple, industrial-inspired kitchen, and the LA-Centric artwork. When we arrived, there was plenty of indoor seating, but there was plenty of in-and-out traffic by Doordash, Postmates, and call-ins.
A cool thing to note is its hours: It’s open from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. every day, which means it’s a great option for late-night takeout.
If you’re looking for the flagship item at California Hot Chicken has a pretty simple menu: Their most popular item is the Cali Plate, which has two chicken tenders placed on two Hawaiian rolls, fries, and a side of coleslaw. This is pretty standard with most hot chicken places around LA.
You can order your food with 5 heat levels. We both have a decent tolerance for spice. When we try a new chicken place, we aim toward medium, but that was a mistake for us.
We ended up ordering the Loaded Cali Fries, and the White Toast Plate—which is very similar to the Cali Plate, except they change out the Hawaiian rolls for Texas toast.
I had the Loaded Fries, and I thought the flavors contrasted nicely. The saltiness of the dill pickles mixed well with the coleslaw that had a hint of pineapple. The fries were cooked well, but not overdone. The chipotle sauce was a nice touch. However, I did feel as if the fries were light on chicken, and after I finished, I felt like I wanted something a little more filling.
California Hot Chicken is nothing out of the ordinary: Think of it as like Chipotle, or Panda Express. It’s a restaurant of choice that’s open late, and tastes good enough for quick bite or convenient takeout.
So this wraps up our review of Hot Chicken. Let me know in the comments below if you’re willing to try it out.