Houston’s first location of The Red Chickz hosted a grand opening April 13 at Fairfield Town Center in Cypress.

The eatery is known for its Nashville-style hot chicken and has several signature sandwiches on the menu—including the original sandwich, honey butter sandwich, French toast sandwich and cauliflower sandwich. Chicken tenders, cauliflower bites, wings, jumbo shrimp, loaded wedges, tacos, cheese curds and slaw are also on the menu.

There are six heat levels to choose from along with several side and sauce options.

In their own words

Co-founder Nima Christensen said he and his business partner, Shawn Lalehzarian, owned another restaurant concept in downtown Los Angeles but wanted to try a new concept. Hot chicken wasn't yet popular in Los Angeles when they launched The Red Chickz in 2018, but today there are more than 100 hot chicken eateries in the region, he said.


“We ran into the concept of Nashville hot chicken, and we did a lot of research on it. We actually flew out to Nashville, spent a week there and we asked anybody from the Uber driver to the hotel bellman, ‘Do you know anybody that makes it?’” he told Community Impact in a March interview. “We actually got invited to a few homes, ... [and] the seasoning that we still use today on the chicken is from somebody's kitchen in Nashville.”

Christensen said The Red Chickz focuses on flavor and crunchiness, describing the chicken as having a light batter without greasiness.