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INTERVIEWS

André Jeffries -
Prince's Hot Chicken Shack

E. W. Mayo -
Mayo's Fried Pies & Mahalia Jackson's Chicken

David Swett -
Swett's

Hap Townes -
Hap Townes Restaurant

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Interviews conducted by John Egerton, Mary Beth Lasseter, and Joe York. 

This project sponsored by TABASCO.

André Jeffries

Prince's Hot Chicken Shack
123 Ewing Dr
Nashville, TN 37207
(615) 226-9442

Well the story is it was--they were already in business when I was born. So I grew up on this chicken; I didn’t grow up in the establishment. It belonged to my great-uncle and I never knew that I would even be in this type of business. However, the story goes--is my uncle was a womanizer, and he was out late one night, and by revenge his lady friend the next morning cooked some chicken and to get him back she poured all this pepper on it, to get him back. But he liked it; so he told his friends about it and the word got around, so he asked her to keep cooking some more. So that’ the story; so but it was for punishment but it was something that turned into our business.

This chicken cannot be rushed; it cannot be rushed. To be right it takes time. And then sometimes when we give it to the customers too fast they don’t want it; they think something is wrong with it ‘cause they’re used to waiting. So I find that rather odd, but--that’s the way they expect it ‘cause that’s the way it usually is but it takes time to cook the chicken right. It’s not a fast-food; we’re definitely not a fast-food restaurant. It’s old-time; it’s like old-school.

– André Jeffries

The line at Prince's Hot Chicken can be longer at 10 p.m. than at lunchtime. Owner André Jeffries calls it a "late night" place. They don't advertise and haven't in the past eighteen years, but word of mouth has allowed customers to keep up with Prince's as they've moved locations throughout the city. Loyal followers of this fiery fried goodness can order the chicken in three flavors—mild, medium, or hot—and it's served on grease-soaked white bread with sliced pickles on top. Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell prefers the hot variety, but that's unusual according to Ms. Jeffries. Women usually prefer the hottest flavors, but she doesn't know why. She'll leave that question to the scientists. Whether you prefer hot or mild, be prepared to wait up to half an hour for your fare because the chicken isn't dropped into the skillet until it's ordered. And it's not for those with a sensitive stomach, Prince's warns. "It's a 24 hour chicken," according to Jeffries. And it sure is addictive.

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What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.

Subject: André Jeffries, Owner Prince's Hot Chicken
Date: July 7, 2006
Location: Prince's Hot Chicken—Nashville, TN
Interviewer: Joe York

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André Jeffries: Okay; André Prince Jeffries--I’m here at Prince Hot Chicken Shack, located at 123 Ewing Drive right off Dickerson Road in Nashville, Tennessee.

Joe York: What is it--what do you all do there?

Well we cook chicken--all day long, all day long for Monday through--no, we’re closed on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday we’re open from 12 Noon to 10 pm; we used to stay open ‘til Midnight but that got so tiresome being right back by 10 in the morning so we--we stopped and we’re open ‘til 10. However we don’t really get out of here ‘til about 11:30 Tuesday through Thursday; on Friday and Saturday we’re open from 12 Noon ‘til 4:00 a.m. We’re known for late-night. Now when my uncle had it he always opened about 5:00 in the evenings and the afternoons and stayed open ‘til after Midnight during the week. It’s known as a late-night place. But when I took over and quit Metro that’s when I started opening at lunchtime. But it’s usually always been opened in the evenings.

Tell me about the---the chicken; I mean why--why do you cook--I’ve never heard of hot chicken before, so explain to me first off what is hot chicken, where does it come from, and what is it--like literally what is--like just--just tell me what hot chicken is.

Well the story is it was--there were already--they were already in business when I was--I was born. [Laughs] So I grew up on this chicken; I didn’t grow up in the establishment. It belonged to my great-uncle and I never knew that I would even be in this type of business. However, the story goes--is my uncle was a womanizer, and he was out late one night, and by revenge his lady friend the next morning cooked some chicken and to get him back she poured all this pepper on it, to get him back. But he liked it; so he told his friends about it and the word got around, so he asked her to keep cooking some more. So that’s--that’s the story; so but it was for punishment but it was something that turned into our business. [Laughs] So that--I--I--that’s just the story; I don’t know really how it got started and I really didn’t know it was that peculiar to just Nashville you know; I thought everybody had it. I had no idea. But it was--as far as I can remember--my father always got it. He--he went down late on Saturday nights and when we woke up on Sunday morning it was always on the stove, so I’m used to it being on the stove for a minute before you know--I didn’t eat it right out of the skillet; it always set a while and that’s the way I like it now, [Laughs] like a day and then I eat it overnight--and then I eat, then I’ll know whether it’s right or not ‘cause that’s the way I’m used to it being. But that’s how it got started, so it went from there. But it was supposed to have been a form of punishment. [Laughs] [Phone Rings] That’s the way it’s supposed to have been.

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More women eat it hot than men and I don’t know why that it is, but they do. So maybe that’s something the scientists can look into--how women can tolerate that heat more so than men. Men will start out but they will quickly fade to--and back down to medium. Not that many men get it hot; I think I have just one customer now that--that’s been getting it hot for a long time--even extra hot and now he’s--he’s mostly medium now. So he’s about the longest one that has maintained hot, but those women--I don’t know what it is. [Laughs] I guess it keeps up with their anger. Oh me--but that’s something they can look into--the scientists.

Talk to me about--we had the Mayor in here today. Talk--tell me about your relationship with him and that--.

Oh it’s beautiful; he’s always--his theme has always been the neighborhood Mayor. However, he’s been coming in for as long as I’ve been in business for 20-some odd years, so that was long before he became Mayor.

I’m sorry; hold on. Okay; can you--I’m sorry--sorry about that. So his theme was--can you start back over with that?

The neighborhood Mayor, Mayor Bill Purcell is the neighborhood Mayor; that’s what he campaigned on and truly he is. He--he definitely associates himself with small business--the mom and pop business and he--he’s just great. We just love him to death. He comes in at least once a week--sometimes twice, but sometimes he carries on his little conferences here. [Laughs] Oh baby, we love him to death and every now and then he’ll come and answer the phone. If the phone is ringing he’ll answer it, so I mean he’s just a familiar face around here and we love him to death.

But does he--he eats the chicken?

He eats it hot. He has always eaten it hot--that’s--he’s got an iron stomach. [Laughs] He’s always gotten it hot--never medium a mile. So he’s a great fellow.

Go ahead and tell us the recipe real fast if you don’t mind.

Well I can't do that because I still have bills; they still come every day. [Laughs] Have mercy, I can't do that, but I don’t know. It’s something--they say it’s addictive; they say it’s addictive and I have some people who come every day that I’m open. They come every day. I don’t know how they do it but they are chicken-holics; they are truly some chicken-holics in Nashville. Yeah; I don’t know why it’s--it’s nothing that I’ve done though ‘cause I didn’t start it. [Laughs]

You’re just a pusher.

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What about--a lot of businesses and you know more and more people are trying to make--get the food out as fast as they possibly can. You guys--

This chicken cannot be rushed; it cannot be rushed. To be right it takes time. And then sometimes when we give it to the customers too fast they don’t want it; they think something is wrong with it ‘cause they’re used to waiting. So I find that rather odd, but--that’s the way they expect it ‘cause that’s the way it usually is but it takes time to cook the chicken right. It’s not a fast-food; we’re definitely not a fast-food restaurant. It’s old-time; it’s like old-school.

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Essentially everybody is still in the South at least pretty segregated, but it seems to me like I’ve seen this--this restaurant more so than really any place that I’ve been in the South is a truly integrated place. So tell me--

That’s wild. I don’t know; it’s--it’s very odd but people from all walks of life--we’ve had chauffeurs come and let whoever out and they come in here and they’ll wait. [Laughs] We don’t know who in the world they are; they’ve got to be somebody of influence--they have a chauffer. But people from all walks of life come here and a lot of them have--they--they’ll tell you the story of how they grew up on this chicken, their parents took them--went to--to get the chicken when it was at another location when my--my great-uncle had it. So--and I remember the stories when my great-uncle started it the Caucasians ate in the back and of course the--the--well colored that they called back then, Black people ate up front, so they were ushered to the back in my great-uncle’s place. So that was during--prior to the Civil Rights Movement, so I mean it’s--it has definitely played an integral part in the integration movement. But people come here from all walks of life and think nothing of it.

How about that though; it was reversed?

Oh yeah, yeah; that--that’s--a lot of people--especially the older people can tell you about it. They passed through the kitchen on the way to the very back of the place. [Laughs] I--I--I had seen it one time but it wasn’t open for business. When I went--it wasn’t open when I went to my uncle’s place.

Can you--can you tell us about him?

That was Thornton Prince--huh?

Who was going to the back?

The Caucasians, the White went--passed through the kitchen through--they came through the front door but they passed through the kitchen into the back. They were ushered to the back and they had a separate dining area. Yeah; that’s--that’s a fact. [Laughs] That was wild--I thought that was rather weird. [Laughs] But they would come from the Grand Ole Opry because it was close to downtown and they would come from the Grand Ole Opry after the show and come and just feast because it--like I say we were known for late-night business and then it stayed open--that’s one--that signature is we’re open to 4:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. That’s always been so I just try to keep up the family tradition of keeping it open late. Of course--of course now a lot of--several places are open late now and more businesses are selling hot spicy chicken now. I find that weird. [Laughs]

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What about--a lot of people we’ve talked to and I know this is indelicate and you don’t by any means have to answer this but a lot of people we’ve talked to talk about not just how hot the chicken is today but they talk about how hot it is tomorrow.

Oh yes; this is a 24-hour chicken--24-hour chicken. One of our customers gets it and he says he eats it in a tub cup--tub of water. He fills his bath tub full of cold water and that’s how he eats it. And some can't wait; it’s like a missile sometimes. Take off like a missile through the other end. [Laughs] I hear all kinds of stories. [Laughs]

Everybody has said--everybody has said that.

But it’s a cleansing--it’s a cleansing and we need it. We got a lot of infected people so we need that cleansing. [Laughs] Oh me, I don’t know what the doctors say about it. But we clean them out. [Laughs]

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To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.

Photos by Holly Moore, www.hollyeats.com