Not too long ago, I had the terrible idea of trying to make myself a spice lord by trying some of the hottest dishes in town to see if I could hang. “Hot Ones” was at the peak of its popularity on YouTube, and I knew there was no way some of those ridiculous celebrities were as hardcore as I was. I’m a professional foodie, dammit. Well, instead of finding a deep love for incredibly spicy food or gaining some new level of heat tolerance, it broke me and left me in different levels of stomach pain for days. Somehow, ever since then, my spice tolerance has gone down.
Even at its spiciest, I love Wonderland Chicken Co. and its Nashville chicken sandwiches. Now that it’s under the same roof as Worthy Brewing downtown, the marriage of the chicken’s deep and complex flavors with Worthy’s fantastic beer makes for a great lunch or dinner spot.
The brainchild of Jonathan Gooden and Autumn Eberlei, Wonderland has been a staple for me since they opened at Bunk+Brew a few years back — the Nashville hot chicken sandwich is the stuff of legend. Even the way the couple started Wonderland is a classic story, from being stuck at home during COVID and researching all the best Nashville recipes, to studying the history of the sandwich and perfecting their own recipe and pickle slaw topping.
“It was mid-December 2020 when the last COVID relief checks came in. We had $2,000 in the bank and, after what was honestly too short of a discussion, we decided to buy a flatbed trailer and build a food cart on it,” Gooden says. “Over the next 87 days, that’s exactly what we did.
“With the weekly unemployment checks, we purchased as much lumber and other materials as we could and built it. We did every piece of the build. We locked in our location out in Sisters, got my friend to design our logo, and Wonderland Chicken came alive. It’s named Wonderland because of my grandmother’s influence on me growing up — her name was Alice, our oldest daughter’s name is Alice, so it’s a bit of an homage to two of the most important women in my life,” Gooden adds.
Here’s how Wonderland breaks down its spice levels:
0: No Spice
1: Mild (calm jalapeño)
2: Medium (sriracha-level burn)
3: Hot (habanero burn)
4: Fire (good head sweats)
5: Extreme (it’s extreme, yo)
6: Demon (seriously, y’all?)
7: Calm Like a Bomb (Don’t Do It)
If you can eat the level-seven spice Nashville hot chicken in 10 minutes or less, it’s not only free, but you get your picture up on the wall. Being as I am somewhat of a masochistic gentleman, I felt up for a challenge, knowing full well that the three is about as hot as I can go these days.
Here’s the thing with Gooden and spices though, no matter how mild or how hot you want to go, flavor is paramount. He will break you with heat, no doubt, but he wants the sandwich itself to still be delicious — which it always is.
“The secret to making any dish spicy is to understand all of the unique flavor profiles of the different peppers,” Gooden says. “Utilizing the peppers that have a longer burn paired with a more in-your-face immediate heat is a great way to get a bigger ‘burn’ from a lower Scoville-rated pepper. Knowing your own spice tolerance is key, but not being scared to push it every so often. Lastly: Never, ever, use a capsaicin extract. They taste like shit and only showcase your lack of understanding and ignorance.”
Just in case you want a ballpark in how spicy the seven is at Wonderland, let me break it down like this: The Scoville scale is what measures spice in peppers. A poblano pepper is 1,500 Scoville heat units. A chipotle pepper can reach 8,000 SHU. The Calm Like a Bomb chicken sandwich from Wonderland, it’s 2,000,000 SHU. I think I might not make it. I had the seven a long time ago, but I was a younger man then. A better man.
The Nashville Hot chicken sandwich arrived, served with a generous side of mac and cheese (BTW, Wonderland’s mac is to die for: thick, creamy and delicious without being too heavy). Oh, and Gooden makes the best potato salad I’ve ever had. Period. First bite and the heat hit me like a truck. Instant hiccups. My mouth became a volcano of pain and remorse. Within 30 seconds, I had the full sweats with my cheeks and forehead feeling like they were under a heat lamp. Still, even with that massive amount of spice, the chicken was delicious, perfectly counterbalanced by the mouth-watering pickle slaw.
Ten minutes is plenty of time to eat a chicken sandwich if you think about it, but those last few bites were a mental challenge I barely passed. But I did — forever glorified by my polaroid on the wall. Was it worth it? Hell, no! Two hours after eating that level-seven spice, my stomach felt horse-kicked. But here’s how good the food at Wonderland is: Even after eating that sandwich, I still ate every bite of the amazing mac and cheese and polished off several thick and meaty wings with house-made buffalo sauce and a few with a sticky fish sauce that is absolutely to die for. Even in my pain, I wanted more.
Wonderland Chicken Co. makes great, homemade food, and Jonathan and Autumn are damn good people keeping that same warm, family feeling at Worthy as they did in their food cart. While I wouldn’t recommend the level seven for anyone aside from budding spice lords, masochists and people looking for a serious challenge, I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. Maybe a glass of milk.
This article appears in Source Weekly December 12, 2024.
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