Dave's Hot Chicken - 2240 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa

In 2017, four childhood friends came up with a simple concept — take Nashville Hot Chicken and make it better than anyone else in America. With only a couple thousand dollars to their name, they boot-strapped a pop-up concept in a parking lot in East Hollywood serving a simple menu of tenders, sliders, fries, and kale slaw — they created a viral cult following with lines consistently over an hour long.<br><br><br><br>After 6 months of running the pop-up with long lines, the team took the plunge and opened their first physical store in January 2018 in a sleepy strip center in East Hollywood. Demand for their crave-able hot chicken exceeded all expectations and sales have grown every month since opening with consistently long lines throughout the day.<br><br><br><br>The co-founder, Dave, a chef trained in Thomas Keller’s Bouchon restaurant organization came up with a simple process: take the best quality chicken, prepare the chicken in a proprietary brine, and after deep frying; top the most tender chicken in the world with one of seven signature spice blends.