August 16, 2023
Provided Image/Elizabeth Mirra/Cashman Associates/ Love &Honey Fried Chicken
Love & Honey Fried Chicken will soon unveil the Nashville Meltdown, which consists of a Nashville hot chicken breast, Bassetts vanilla ice cream and Mike's Hot Honey sitting on a Belgian Waffle.
The combination of sweet and spicy is beloved in many snacks and drinks. But when approached about adding such an item to their menu, the owners of Love & Honey Fried Chicken were skeptical.
Todd and Laura Lyons, founders of the Northern Liberties restaurant, said the communications agency Cashman & Associates floated the Nashville hot chicken and ice cream sandwich concept. They did not think it would work until Todd started playing with ideas in his head.
He put a 5-ounce Nashville hot chicken breast on a Belgian waffle and topped it with a scoop of Bassetts vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of Mike's Hot Honey. The Nashville Meltdown was born.
"Somewhere along the line, my chef brain sort of went to waffle, and how my brain works, I like to make connections that make sense," Todd said. "Then I was like, waffles and ice cream make sense, and then, you know, we do an absolutely killer and authentic Nashville hot chicken sandwich. And so it came together fairly easy in my brain, but then the next thing was to taste it. I rushed downstairs and put it all together, and surprisingly, it really worked."
The Lyons used their connections with a friend, Josh Moore, to get them in touch with Alex Basset Strange, the executive vice president of Bassetts Ice Cream. Strange loved the idea.
"Any time that we can be partnered with an iconic Philly brand is a huge win for us," Laura said. "We just thought we were probably too small for them, for us to be on their radar, so we hadn't thought about them in that capacity. When Josh made the intro, we were blown away that they were excited about the idea."
The Nashville Meltdown will debut in a limited capacity next week. From Aug. 26-27, the $12 item will be sold for takeout from 2-5 p.m.
Because it's a niche menu item, the Lyons are testing it out to see how it fares next weekend. They may add it to the menu through September if all goes well.
"We wanted to see what kind of splash it would make. We think it's just a really cool, interesting, unique idea that no one has done before. So yeah, we're excited to see how it does next weekend," Laura said.
Love & Honey is located at 1100 N. Front Street. Its first franchised restaurant location will open in University City in 2024.
