There are rare moments in a seasoned foodie’s life when you taste something so delicious, you stop chewing and give your dining partner a look of shock.
Such a moment happened this past Sunday morning when I tried Hampton + Hudson’s Hot Chicken Biscuit Sliders. They don’t outright say it in the name, but those are Nashville hot chicken sliders. And while I have a supremely biased penchant for my college-town’s fiery fowl, even the objective restaurant critic in me, and my friend Shawn across the table, found these sliders to be an act of God.
Cue chanting monks
Shawn’s own gravy-slathered ham biscuits were winners as well, melting in your mouth with a balance of texture and taste, without any overpowering ingredients.
For our brunch entrees, Shawn went with bacon, eggs, and breakfast potatoes; a Southern staple as reliable as your dad’s ’97 Ford F-150, but equally as un-thrilling. I, feeling more adventurous, ordered the “B for D” burger, assuming it stood for “Breakfast for Dinner” and not “Brace for Death.”
The first thing I noticed was just how organized the bacon was on my burger. Some chefs just slap bacon on burgers like pool noodles in the form of a giant X; I can’t conceive of a worse way to distribute bacon on a burger. Hampton + Hudson understand the delicate ratio of bacon/egg/cheese/burger/bun per bite, and their burgers rock because of it.
How it should always be
With friends in the restaurant business, I know how brutal and challenging it can be to keep a new restaurant’s doors open for more than a year. With their reasonably-priced, varied menu, great service (shout-out to our awesome server Griffin), and extremely impressive food, Hampton + Hudson is one that I sincerely hope makes it and becomes a long-term staple of the burgeoning Inman Park culinary scene.
You can help them, and experience a new benchmark in slider quality, by grabbing some friends or a date and heading there this week. Hampton + Hudson is located at 299 N. Highland Avenue, in the courtyard of the Inman Quarter building. Give them a call at 404-948-2123 or visit their website at www.hamptonandhudson.com.
