Birdcall
800 East 26th Avenue, 720-361-29761701 Wewatta Street, 720-572-8799
1535 East Evans Avenue, 720-242-8106
eatbirdcall.com
The Park Burger team knows sandwiches, so swapping out a burger patty for a crispy, juicy, fried-chicken breast seems like just more of a good thing. Put it on a toasted, squishy bun and add savory sauces and click-bait toppings like smoky bacon and coleslaw studded with blue cheese, and you've got a recipe for lines out the door. The restaurants are stripped back and streamlined, keeping prices low and quality high. What's for dessert? Make it a red-velvet milkshake for a full-on Southern onslaught.
The Budlong Hot Chicken
3501 Wazee Streetthebudlong.com
Chef Jared Leonard spend months researching fried chicken before opening the Budlong. The Chicago transplant studied Nashville-style hot chicken across the South, starting with Prince's in Nashville (where the style originated), then testing recipes until he perfected his version. The Budlong serves spicy bone-in chicken and sandwiches at Zeppelin Station, where a cold can of Colorado beer makes a perfect pairing.
Chicken Rebel
3200 Pecos Street (at Avanti Food & Beverage)2927 Larimer Street (at Finn's Manor)
facebook.com/chickenrebelcluck
A transplant from San Diego, Chicken Rebel descended on Denver in 2017 amid much fanfare before landing a permanent spot inside Finn's Manor, the indoor/outdoor food-truck pod and bar space. This summer, owner Lydie Lovett expanded to Avanti F&B and will soon have her own restaurant in LoHi. Chicken Rebel makes a variety of sandwiches, but the Nashville hot is a favorite. Slathered in a fiery sauce that resembles barbecue sauce, the hot chicken here doesn't have a traditional appearance, but the cayenne bite makes your mouth remember what this dish is all about.

This Korean fried chicken sandwich with housemade kimchi is now sizzling at Little Beast.
Mark Antonation
Little Beast Street Food
2730 East Colfax Avenue303-399-4137
littlebeastdenver.com
Little Beast is new to the sandwich scene, taking over the former home of Uber Sausage earlier this summer. The Korean fried-chicken sandwich is an immediate favorite, though, for its light breading that resembles that of country-fried catfish, a funky topping of kimchi and a zingy smear of housemade gochujang. Little Beast proves that small can be mighty.
Lou's Food Bar
701 Grant Street303-860-2929
lousfoodbar.com
Frank Bonanno perfected his fried chicken after a 2012 trip to Nashville to eat at the restaurants where hot chicken was born. At Lou's, sandwiches are kept simple: You can order hot, medium or naked, and with a few toppings that don't steal the thunder from the crunchy-coated star. You can also find Bonanno's fried chicken in sandwich form or on the bone at Lou's Hot and Naked inside the restaurateur's downtown food hall, Milk Market (1800 Wazee Street).