Hattie’s B’s Is Doing a Vegetarian Nashville Hot Chicken Just for SXSW

Nashville hot chicken restaurant chain Hattie B’s is popping up in Austin twice during South by Southwest (SXSW) this March. There will be a vegetarian hot chicken collaboration (!), and then there’s a record label pop-up.

First, Hattie B’s vegetarian chicken pop-up will take place with vegan food company Meati (which is actually sponsoring SXSW’s entire food programming). The bite is a round fried piece of white bread topped with a fried Meati hot chicken bite plus kosher dill pickles and comeback sauce. The dish isn’t vegan because the restaurant uses breading with whey protein and the comeback sauce has dairy.

Meati tagged Hattie B’s to create the item for SXSW. Brian Morris, Hattie B's head of culinary operations, enjoyed Meati’s mushroom-based product. “What’s incredible about Meati is the texture,” he writes to Eater. “It’s not a homogenous taste like a patty. It’s got a texture and juiciness similar to great fried chicken.” This isn’t Hattie B’s first foray into vegetarian products. There is a meatless hot chicken sandwich made using Dr. Praeger’s in Atlanta.

The vegetarian collaboration pop-up runs from Friday, March 10 through Sunday, March 12 at the SXSW Registrant Lounge in downtown venue 99 Trinity Street from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. It’s available only to SXSW badgeholders.

Then there’s the unofficial SXSW music showcase with Oh Boy Records and Hattie B’s. The menu includes chicken drumsticks served Nashville hot or Southern (aka no spice at all), and banana pudding. There will also be concerts and vinyl for sale.

The event team-up happened because Hattie B’s co-owner Nick Bishop Jr. actually worked at the record label (founded by the late singer-songwriter John Prine) before joining his father Nick Bishop, Sr. in the restaurant business (they started Hattie B’s together in 2012).

The showcase/food pop-up takes place on Saturday, March 18 at the Parish on 501 Brushy Street in East Austin from noon to 5:30 p.m. It’s available to the public.

The food at both pop-ups will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Tennesse-based restaurant chain is going to open its first Austin location in the fall. It’s taking over what had been Maria’s Taco Xpress space on South Lamar

Hattie B’s was started in 2012 by co-owners Nick Bishop Jr. and his father Nick Bishop, Sr. The company expanded in Nashville and Memphis, and out to Birmingham, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Dallas. The chain was supposed to open a Houston location, but that plan has been canceled.

Update, 3:03 p.m.: This article, originally published at 9:08 a.m., has been updated to clarify that Hattie B’s Meati dish is vegetarian, not vegan.