Hi @frommtron,
Nice! 
Thatâs not bad at all, showing up at prime lunch hour (12:10 p.m.) and got your food by 1 p.m. (including wait in line).
I love Chef Zoneâs Collard Greens as well! 
and I agree with you that I love the pure Fried Chicken over the Sando, but itâs pretty darn delicious as well. 
Congrats on surviving Level 5 (X-Hot)! 
Are you going to try Level 6 (Howlinâ) next? 
I agree, @Chowseeker1999! Pretty much everything HR puts out is excellent. Just a personal preference that accounts for enjoying the more straightforward presentations they offer. I do still need to try those waffles, but Iâll use my skip-the-line pass for that.
Uh. Hmmm. Yeah. I think Iâll skip the Howlinâ level. I found xtra hot tolerable, but all I could taste was the spice and that wasnât worth the ass-kicking I got later. I do like spicy food, but I missed the chicken flavor! actually think I like country level the best. Just tastes better overall to me.
I had some unexpected bodily reactions the next day with the x-hot. My favorite level was the medium and hot.
@Sgee Similar for me. It wasnât the usual spicy food consequences.
Hereâs what I want with fried chicken: I want a highly seasoned, crispy/crunchy crust to be the first thing to hit my palate. I want that followed by an intense chicken flavor carried in a rush of juices. Country on up to maybe medium+ (havenât tried just straight hot) work for me and I prefer bone-in pieces.
As Killer Noodle Tsujita would warn, âPlease take care of your bottoms when you complete your meal.â
That sizzling burn ainât fun.
You just described a KFC OG recipe thigh, babyâŚ
FIFY
I thought about Popeyes, but that skin to me is more crispy than seasoned. Not a bad thing, but itâs just that Colonelâs 11 secret herbs & spices seem more apropos to meâŚ
Breaking news:
Chef Johnny Ray Zone confirmed today that Howlinâ Rayâs 2nd Location will be inâŚ
Good news for everyone in the area and for those that make it easier to drive there instead of into Chinatown / Downtown (@ElsieDee @nashwill and others). Although I wish he opened a location on the Westside as well.
Hopefully it makes the lines shorter at both locations.
I think I recall reading some news that Chef Johnny and his wife moved to PasadenaâŚhence, the convenience of opening in their new âhood.
Iâm pretty sure it was my pull as an influencer with 177 followers. #influenza lol!
Great news indeed! Makes sense, too â we have had some fine new places open, a few not-really-ready ones crashed and burned (which is a good sign in a town whose âtopâ restaurateurs got away with formula-driven service and shortcut cooking for years). And while it matters little to me who dunnit, Iâm glad itâs happening. Funny thing: I lived in Nashville for just shy of thirty years and had hot chicken only once, when a co-worker brought in some Columboâs (now long closed) to share for lunch. I liked it a lot until I mindlessly poked at an itchy eye ⌠but I never had a long enough lunch break for the lines they had even then. Now Iâve got all day.
For those who love Howlinâ Rays, Iâm glad.
Did he say where in Pasadena?
Hi @ElsieDee,
Not yet, but he said itâs pretty much definite.
The good news is that Chef Zone has already been training his staff so well, weâve been to Howlinâ a few times where Chef Zone was out on business, but the food tasted as good as if he was there.
Rayâs is stalking my mom. Close to 40 years in Chinatown and now less than a year after moving to Pasadena, Rayâs is popping up there too.
She is miffed as why the line is so long and wonders what the big deal is with fried chicken. I mean she likes friend chicken, she doesnât understand what makes Rayâs such a big deal.
With two sites, hopefully the lines wonât be so long? I like Rayâs but not enough to stand in line that long.
Exactly
Vault is open, yâall.
Fast passes available.
Thanks for the heads up! Just bought one! Canât wait to not wait lol.
Excellent. Thanks @frommtron for the heads up! 
Reminder to our FTCâers that missed out, this $50 Howlinâ Gift Card / Fast Pass basically means you spend $50 to get a:
Donât miss out this time! (@paranoidgarliclover @TheCookie @CiaoBob @Ns1 @Sgee @beefnoguy @BradFord @A5KOBE @PorkyBelly and others) 
