Cackalack's Hot Chicken Shack

(Part 3 -- February 2012)
(Part 2 -- December 2011)

(UPDATE: As of 9/20/11, Cackalack's has moved to the Good Food Here food pod near SE 43rd and Belmont)

Cackalack's Hot Chicken Shack, located at the Green Castle Food Pod (NE 20th and Everett) in Portland, Oregon, serves fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. They have three types of hot sauces to choose from: Mild, Hot, and XXX.

For $7, I went with their signature "Blazer" sandwich. A chicken breast is coated and fried, then laced with your choice of hot sauce and placed on a nice-sized burger bun. It is topped with smoky slaw and garlic herb aioli

Normally, my instincts would be to get the "XXX" sauce, no questions asked. But here, I was on a mission for the most flavor possible, especially if the ball was in my court to determine the hot sauce. So I merely tried their XXX sauce, which the owner said had a mixture of four spicy peppers, including the habanero.

The XXX was spicy, but not the spiciest thing I've ever had. That was confirmed when I was told there were no ghost peppers or extracts in the XXX. For me, all I could really get was smoky heat and a bit of spicy heat. Not much flavor here, and frankly, that XXX sauce would be inedible to many -- either because of heat or off-putting flavors.

The "Hot" sauce was milder, but had better flavor. This sauce also uses habanero peppers, but at least it sticks more with a traditional, tangy hot sauce. For flavor's sake, I went with the Blazer with hot sauce, and the aioli on the side.

Blazer w/hot sauce

Cross-section

The chicken -- fried and cooked to order -- was very good. The breading gave the sandwich that great fried chicken crunch that a ton of people love. Unfortunately, that breading also easily pulled off, and seeing that was just unappetizing. I'm not sure if they do the flour-to-egg-wash-to-bread crumb deal.

As far as the seasonings go, the spice was there, but again, not too overpowering so I could enjoy my meal. The smoky slaw worked here because I picked the tangier hot sauce (and not the XXX). Had I chosen the XXX, I know it would have been smokiness overload. The bun was room temperature to the touch, although I saw it was toasty on the inside of each half.

The aioli was quite successful. It had a nice, creamy texture; the garlic just pops in your mouth and works so well with the herbs.

Cackalack's also makes their own pickles (put in the sandwich as well), and I felt that was pretty successful. The pickles retained a good crunch and picked up some slight tang from the pickling. I guess I'm just so used to the bold flavors of dill pickles that these pickles were just ordinary to me. Kudos to Cackalack's for at least making their own, though.

I got awesome service from Stephanie Barcelona, one of Cackalack's owners. She answered all my questions regarding their three sauces and gave me samples of the sauce upon my request.

Another thing: I would like to see more variety in sauces from Cackalack's. Something more than mild, hot, and XXX for the adventurous eater like myself.

The portion justifies the $7 price tag, but I think I would enjoy a smaller sandwich. It's not the size of the food that lures me, it's the unique tastes and great flavors that bring me back. Here, the flavors were just OK, so I'm pretty hesitant on returning. While I certainly appreciate Cackalack's going to great lengths to make great homemade food, in the end, Cackalack's basically serves their take on a spicy fried chicken sandwich. I'd say about a 5.5 for the sandwich and a few little brownie points for service and homemade pickles.