It's been six months since "Food Paradise" stopped into the Wesley Chapel location of forever-expanding Tampa hot chicken chain King of the Coop, and now fans can finally see what went down when The Cooking Channel airs the footage tonight at 10 p.m. EST.
The episode, "Feeling Hot Hot Hot!," promises mouth-scorching peppers, heartwarming hotcakes, Carolina Reaper hot wings, hot fudge, hot tamales and King of the Coop's "stacked Nashville hot chicken sandwich." "Food Paradise" has been around since 2007 and travels the U.S. to find the country’s “must-see food spots.”
When Creative Loafing Tampa Bay attended the late-June taping, diners were sampling King Mac—hot chicken tendies sandwiches with mac ‘n’ cheese, slaw, special sauce and sweet pickles—plus the concept’s new catfish tacos.
In a text message to CL ahead of a private Ybor City watch party, Coop founder Joe Dodd said he was feeling all kinds of stressed, happy and excited, but mostly grateful for the teams who make it happen at King of the Coop locations across Tampa Bay.
"The teams we have are the ones that deserve the all the credit. They do the hard work of working in the restaurants I just direct and do all the pencil pushing. But tomorrow is another day and our job is to be better than the day before and that will always be the track for us," Dodd wrote. "I'm looking forward to seeing the show and seeing what happens after it airs. I would like for people to know I can't take the credit for it all."
