Hot Chikn Kitchn comes to Woodbridge, serves up ‘unity through food’

A new restaurant has come to Woodbridge serving chicken to all members of the community.

"Hot Chikn Kitchn" is a Nashville style chicken restaurant founded by a father-son team, Mike and Anthony Sarago, with the goal of bringing together the community during the Coronavirus pandemic. Together, they found business partners in chef Frederic Gilmore, Eric Williams, Darrell Williams, and Lee Small. They created the restaurant, a for-profit business, with the concept of going into business with a minority-ownership group in the Potomac Mills area after the pandemic affected small businesses. To do so, Mike Sarago called Prince William County Neabsco District Supervisor Victor Angry to help identify these groups. "I've known Supervisor Angry for a bit of years now, and I reached out to him, specifically, because he's a black male and the first black Supervisor in Prince William County, and just kind of ran the idea past him as far as being involved with a hundred percent minority-owned group and identifying that group to work with to eventually turn the restaurant over to them, so they had a hundred percent ownership," said Hot Chikn Kitchn founder and owner Mike Sarago. Angry put Sarago in touch with Eric Williams, who put together a fully owned minority ownership group, which included disabled veterans and chef Frederic Gilmore. Williams' group manages the labor force within the restaurant while splitting the profits with Sarago.

"Our motto is "unity through food." So it was the different races working together and just really being a gathering place for all different nationalities, ethnicities, groups, whatever that may be. We're really colorblind when it comes to that and during this time, it really seemed to be the right thing to do, given the backdrop of what was going on in society," said Sarago.

They hope that within 12 months, they will be a whole minority ownership group with grants and profiteering. Their main menu consists of non-traditional Nashville style chicken dishes, including:

• Nashville Style Chikn Sandwich
• Ckikn Tenders
• Chikn and Waffles
• Country Chikn Salad
• Loaded Fries

Their meat is certified halal and comes with different sauce options, including side sauces such as their signature Good Sauce and Cheese Sauce. "We wouldn't call ourselves traditional Nashville hot chicken; a traditional Nashville hot chicken is dipped in a light oil and is then powdered with a rub that includes heat, so you get different heat levels. But what we found when we were researching this was that it didn't have much flavor to the sauce, or the heat levels as you would. So we developed a sauce that we infused different pepper heats into," said Sarago. Their sauces are split into four levels. The first level sauce uses a chili-infused pepper. Next is their second level sauce, called "Afterburner," which uses a habanero based sauce. Their third level, called "Angry Hot," is a Scorpion Pepper base sauce, and their fourth level, called "Medic," uses a Carolina Reaper based sauce. They anticipate their most popular dish to be their Nashville style "Chikn" Sandwich and their tenders. Their kitchen is set up so that the customers can see the food being prepared and the state of the kitchen. "Our kitchen - I call it the "Arena" - so where we actually cook, the customers can see what we're cooking, how we're cooking it, and also how clean we're staying, given these times. We were blessed by Mike to have this open area where you can actually see how your food is being prepared, and that the employees are washing their hands, wearing gloves; face masks are on, hair is pulled back, and ball caps are on. Any food-borne illness or biological hazards that could come from a person into the food, we're on top of that 100%," said chef Frederic Gilmore. Since opening up, the restaurant has faced challenges brought on by the Pandemic. Their main challenges have been with their supply chain and getting products in a timely and consistent manner. They have also faced capacity restraints. "Some of the problems that I expected are nothing out of the ordinary of what a small business would face," said Lee Small. "For me, I thought it was finding employees at the caliber we were looking for that would fit our expectations of an ideal candidate." The team has had weekly meetings to address these issues, including shutdown procedures and planning for future challenges they might face. "We're open to everybody. The premise of what we intended to do and what we're doing is to include everyone," said Sarago. Hot Chikn Kitchn is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. It is located at 14313 Potomac Mills Road in Woodbridge, at the Potomac Festival shopping center. People can reach the restaurant owners through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. They can also call them at -571-398-2145.