How much heat can you beat at Pete’s?

Pete’s Chicken Shack wings it Nashville style Pete’s Chicken Shack

There is one big question customers have to ask themselves at Pete’s Chicken Shack: How far are you willing to go with the heat?

Just three months in business, the food trailer focuses on Nashville-style hot chicken and lists six levels of heat from plain to the hottest “Aww Hell No!” that is heavy on the ghost pepper.

It’s not listed on the menu, but you can even go hotter with a sauce that contains the dreaded Carolina Reaper pepper, which charts in at a whopping 2 million heat limits on the Scoville scale — double that of the ghost pepper.

The business is named after the late Pete Ortiz. His family owns the trailer and his son Kevin Ortiz is part owner. Kevin cooks and runs it along with his kitchen partner Cesar Hernandez. The two scoured all of the best Nashville hot chicken haunts to bring those flavors to San Antonio, and their findings deliver.

True to its name, but for the fries, the menu is all chicken: chicken sandwiches, chicken tenders and chicken wings — all white meat. So don’t come here looking for a burger or a quesadilla.

Best dish: There is no stopping the momentum of the popularity of a good chicken sandwich. And you’re going to find one of the best here with The Southern ($12 with fries), a fillet in a breading full of black pepper that explodes so far out of the flavorful, sweet bun that there’s more bird outside the bun than in it. That giant fillet comes topped with a mild queso sauce and pickled jalapeños and cucumbers.

I chickened out, pun intended, and got it with the mild heat and that felt like the sweet spot. This is easily a two-meal sandwich, especially if you dig too far into those well-seasoned handcut fries.

Other dishes: It felt like wings ($10 for two with fries) were the best vehicle for testing the ferocity of the “Aww Hell No!” Now don’t let that price point confuse

Rating: Solid neighborhood

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Locations: Locations and hours vary, but it usually operates Wednesdays through Sundays. Check Facebook @PetesChickenShack

or call 210-420-6444. Takeout/delivery: Yes/No

you, they serve large, breaded, full wings at Pete’s, so it’s more like getting a half-dozen at a standard wing shop.

The heat make me start to sweat and cough a bit, butthe handful of pickles included in the order quickly helped to mitigate those effects somewhat. Even so, I couldn’t finish them and wouldn’t recommend that level of heat.

Medium heat is a good, safe place on the Pete’s heat scale, and it made for an enjoyable order of tenders ($9 for a threepiece with fries) that were cut so large that each was nearly the size of my hand. They came with two slices of white sandwich bread, a handful of house-made bread-and-butter pickles.

And on their own, the seasoned, hand-cut fries at Pete’s work on all levels, and are included with most orders. But their loaded fries lost their luster. The Animal ($9) fries came topped with chunks of breaded white meat chicken, pickles and a sauce that turned the whole thing mushy.

The Pete’s experience is a trial by fire. Stick with the hot chicken.

Photos by Chuck Blount / Staff Pete’s Chicken Shack features Nashville chicken at an assortment of heat levels. These strips are served with seasoned, hand-cut fries.

The Southern chicken sandwich is enough for two meals.