The Best Fish Sandwich in America
Nashville Hot Fish Sandwich from Bolton's
With the recent news that the land under Bolton’s Spicy Chicken and Fish has been sold to developers, I figured I better get out to East Nashville and eat what is inarguably the best fish sandwich in America.
Bolton’s, if you don’t already know, is one of the OG Nashville hot chicken shacks, one of only two, along with Prince’s, to survive from the days before the Nashville Hot Chicken-pocalypse. Unlike Prince’s, however, Bolton’s still has their nearly original shack, seen above, while Prince’s was fully modernized and suburbanized after their old character-filled location burned down in 2018.
I say, “nearly original” because the story of Bolton’s, like the story of most long-running southern chicken joints is complicated and hazy. The original Bolton was Bolton Polk, who ran a restaurant called “Columbo’s Chicken Shack” at the foot of the Shelby Street Bridge, which was the successor to his chicken shack on Charlotte Ave. Bolton Polk supposedly learned about hot chicken while working for Thornton Prince, of Prince’s, which, at the time, was also located on Charlotte Avenue. There were, of course, plenty of earlier chicken shacks in Nashville, which may or may not have been predecessors to Bolton’s and Prince’s, including the infamous and popular “Chicken Shack” on Jefferson Street, whose owner, Roscoe Springer, was murdered in his establishment in 1941. Whether or not Roscoe’s Chicken Shack served hot chicken is an open question. (Someday, I’m going to spend some serious energy untangling the true history of Nashville hot chicken. I suspect it’s much more complicated than Prince’s just-so story.)
Anyway, in the early 1990’s, the first Bolton ceded his hot chicken recipe to his nephew Bolton Mathews after Columbo’s was shut down by the building of the Titans’ football stadium. In 1997, nephew Bolton Mathews (who died last year) and his wife Dollye Ingram-Mathews opened Bolton’s Spicy Chicken and Fish a few blocks from the new stadium, on East Main Street, where it still stands, at least for the present.
Bolton’s chicken is memorably good. On my personal hot chicken rankings, it comes in third, behind Prince’s and my top-choice, 400 Degrees. As a principled eater, you have to rotate through the top six or so chicken joints, because each offers its own take on the dish, along with different sides and drinks. Which means I make it to Bolton’s a few time a year, and have always come away happy. Bolton’s chicken is delicious, but also much hotter than anyone else’s in town. I order “hot” at Prince’s and 400 Degrees, and “medium” at Bolton’s.
Although third on my chicken list, Bolton’s is number one on my fish sandwich list. What it does better than anyone else is a hot whiting sandwich, the best fish sandwich in America.
What you’re looking at, above, is piscine perfection, two boneless filets of fried whiting, raw onion slices, pickles, yellow mustard and plain white bread, with a side of seasoned French fries and baked beans. This sandwich is “hot” in spiciness, the only thing I order “hot” at Bolton’s.
Pull the second slice of bread out from under the fish, put it on top, and get to work.
According to Dollye Ingram-Mathews, adding fish to the menu was her idea, using a recipe based off of the sort of fried fish she remembers from childhood, but prepared using Bolton’s secret hot spice blend.
The thing that’s most remarkable about this fish sandwich is that, despite the intense heat, you can still really taste the fish. It has an almost delicate flavor. There’s tangy mustard and pickles, the sharp onions, the sweet, soft bread, the cayenne-based heat, and then floating beneath all of that, the fish, perfectly breaded and crispy. It’s an astonishing combination of flavors and textures.
Of course, that’s also the astonishing thing about Nashville hot chicken, no matter how hot it is, you can still really taste the chicken. That’s the secret that makes it so popular. It’s not just the punishing heat, it’s that the fried chicken is really tasty. Somehow, the flavor is preserved, just as it’s preserved in Bolton’s fish sandwich.
Make no mistake, Bolton’s hot fish sandwich IS hot, especially at the “hot” level of spiciness I always order. It’s not as hot as their “hot” chicken, but hot enough to clear my sinuses and bring tears to my eyes, hot enough to give me a good endorphin rush.
One final thing, Bolton’s fish sandwich provides a heroic portion. Look at how those filets lap comically over the sides of the bread. For $12 with a pair of sides, this is a great bargain. Bring a friend if your eating game is weak. Mine is not.
It seems inevitable that Bolton’s will have to leave its current location. Historic restaurants are getting plowed under all the time in Nashville, victims of a booming real estate market. Luckily, there’s a second branch of Bolton’s in the suburbs, so I could still get my fish sandwich after it moves. But, I’m going to miss the old-school shack-i-ness of Bolton’s, just like I missed it when Prince’s closed down their old storefront and went with the modern sports-bar theme at their new place.
My idea of romantic dining: a decrepit chicken shack with picnic tables, hand-lettered signs and lots of memories. Too bad that world is going away, even if the fish and chicken will still be around in a more pedestrian setting.
P.S. Jim Behymer of the Sandwich Tribune named Bolton’s hot catfish sandwich the Best Sandwich of 2014. I prefer the whiting to the catfish.
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An Eccentric Culinary History is pretty good description of the general content of this newsletter, eccentric pieces that reflect my odd and wide-ranging interests, primarily culinary and historical in nature. Take a look at the archives for a better sense of what you’ll get twice a week.
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