Food & Drink

Brewnuts, Hot Chicken Takeover Collaborate On Fried Chicken Doughnuts

The Gordon Square doughnut shop and the Crocker Park restaurant will each feature their own versions of the mashup for this weekend only.

by Dillon Stewart | Sep. 17, 2020 | 2:00 PM

Two of our favorite foods in the entire world — fried chicken and doughnuts — are coming together for a delicious mash-up you're not going to want to miss.

This weekend only, Hot Chicken Takeover and Brewnuts have collaborated on a Nashville-style hot chicken doughnut sandwich ($9.75) sold at the Crocker Park restaurant. Available in Nashville-style cold, warm, hot and holy heat levels, the fried chicken sits atop a honey-glazed sea salt Brewnuts doughnut at the Columbus-based Crocker Park spot. 

"The sweetness of the doughnut really cuts the heat nicely," says Hot Chicken Takeover marketing manager Liz Dickey. "If our cayenne is a little too overpowering for you, that allows you to get a very full profile of flavors."

Meanwhile in Gordon Square, the same doughnut gets the Nashville treatment by being topped with crunchy, salty and spicy hot-chicken crumbles ($3), just like the ones you pick off the corner of your chicken tender. 

Some sweet-and-spicy fans may remember a similar one-day collaboration between the restaurants last year. After a glowing response from fans, the restaurants expanded the event for 2020, offering the doughnut and the sandwich for five days through Sept. 20. 

"Coming from Columbus, we wanted to collaborate with Brewnuts because Shelley and John [Pippin] really represent what Cleveland is all about," says Dickey. "They're community-based, really give back to different organizations around Cleveland and love to create special experiences for their customers." 

While COVID-19 has slowed the restaurant's event schedule, this is part of an on-going effort by Hot Chicken Takeover to create fun events that put unique spins on their food offerings. For example, if (like us) the holy heat level just isn't enough for you, the restaurant is offering a hotter-than-holy "Unholy" heat level for a limited time next Monday through Sunday, Sept. 21-27, that features a spice mixture that's been jacked-up by ghost peppers.

Of course, this "heat seeker" meal will be served with a glass of milk. 

When You Go:
Both restaurants are observing social distancing precautions, including outdoor lines at Brewnuts and patio-only and takeout dining at Hot Chicken Takeover. 

Hot Chicken Takeover, 242 W. Main St., Westlake, 440-638-1117, hotchickentakeover.com
Brewnuts, 6501 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, 216-600-9579, brewnutscleveland.com 

Dillon Stewart

Dillon Stewart is the editor of Cleveland Magazine. He studied web and magazine writing at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and got his start as a Cleveland Magazine intern. His mission is to bring the storytelling, voice, beauty and quality of legacy print magazines into the digital age. He's always hungry for a great story about life in Northeast Ohio and beyond.

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