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The hot chicken war is getting hotter. Los Angeles chain Dave's Hot Chicken just opened an outlet in a brand-new apartment building at Broadway and Bayaud Street, right across the street from Denver's second Voodoo Doughnut. What do the two have in common? They're both loud, brash and fun, enticing customers with bright colors and over-the-top eats. And they're both from out of town, which is unusual for this stretch of Broadway, where weird and independent (or weirdly independent) have been the trademark since before the time when the currently shuttered Punch Bowl Social — which helped earn the stretch the nickname SoBro — was a Big Lots.
Dave's delivers on the hot part of its name, at least. If you're in the mood to get stupid, order your chicken at the Reaper level; we guarantee it will melt you from the inside out. But if you want to keep things local, be on the lookout for Fort Collins original Music City Hot Chicken, set to open inside TRVE Brewing in the next month or so.
April was kind of nutso for chicken in general; you can track down some bird at several new spots, including a surprisingly good sandwich at Choice Market in the Golden Triangle, or at Lea Jane's in RiNo, Blazing Bird in Arvada and Supreme Chicken in Aurora.
Sick of the whole fad? Here's our complete list of other openings and closings for the past week:
Restaurants and Bars Opening This Week*
Awake, 2240 Clay Street
Dave's Hot Chicken, 99 South Broadway
Of a Kind, 233 Clayton Street
Restaurants and Bars Closing This Week*
Twin Fins Poke, 2720 South Colorado Boulevard
*Or earlier, and not previously reported.
Have you spotted any openings or closings not listed here? Let us know in the comments, or send an email to cafe@westword.com.
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