Get a kick out of this spicy chicken

In tacos or on a stick, this bird sings

Chi Chi Birds Hot Chicken owner Caleb Lott started his cooking career working as a line cook and a fast-food guy in his native San Antonio before heading off to Denver for what he calls the “chef-coat” experience at Sushi Den and the upscale steakhouse Guard and Grace.

But it wasn’t until he wound up in California working at the Chancho’s Tacos truck in Los Angeles — with lines up to 500 deep — that he envisioned food trucks as a way of life. Coming back to San Antonio, he started Chi Chi Birds as a pop-up in his father’s backyard three years ago, then graduated in October to the trailer he parks outside Paper Tiger on the St. Mary’s Strip.

Chi Chi Birds specializes in boneless fried chicken breasts and tenders with a customized spice hierarchy, ranging from the unadorned “naked” to the redhot “reaper.” The dry-rub spice levels ratchet up starting with paprika. Then cayenne gets added, then jalapeño, then habanero, then ghost pepper, blazing on up to Carolina Reaper and Trinidad Scorpion peppers.

As for Spanish speakers getting a kick out of the trailer’s name, the slang for breasts, Lott says, yes, it’s partly that, because he uses only breast meat for his chicken. But it was also his nickname in high school, so stop it already.

Best dish: Lott’s time at the

taco truck served him well, because the Crispy Bois tacos he makes at Chi Chi Birds ($13 for four) are the best things on the menu. They start with corn tortillas fried to order for a bubbly crisp shell packed with two perfectly fried chicken tenders and dressed out with slaw, pickled pink onions, Bird Sauce and salsa.

The slaw is a blend of cabbage and kale stirred together with housemade spicy mayo called Bird Sauce, the tingly aromatics of 2 Gringos Chupacabra seasoning and just enough sugar. The result is four crispy tacos small enough for the street but balanced enough to go beyond street

food.

With a few exceptions, everything in this report was ordered “extra hot,” because they were out of the hottest “reaper” seasoning that day. If you’re looking for the kind of spice showdown featured on YouTube’s “Hot Ones,” this ain’t it. The chicken was about as spicy as a strong taquería chile de árbol sauce rendered as a dry rub. Hot, but not so hot that it scorched all the flavor away.

Other dishes: Lott calls The Bird ($13) “the plate that started everything.” It’s two big chicken tenders on Texas toast with a side of slaw, pickles and fries that are

hand-cut, cooked to order and dusted with Chupacabra spice. The chicken is marinated in pickle juice before being dredged in seasoned flour and fried to order, and the bigger pieces of chicken let the flavor come through. It’s juicy, tangy, hot and crunchy.

The tenders make a strong showing on The Mac Daddy ($13), as well. But the bowl’s mac and cheese stole the show with a subtle, creamy Mornay sauce that Lott and his team make right there in the trailer.

Chi Chi Birds plays the sandwich game with The Sando ($13 with fries), a big chicken breast wearing a loose, golden armor of

breading in a hamburger bun, finished with slaw, Bird Sauce and pickled onions, a treatment that adds the sweetness, moisture and tanginess that most chicken sandwiches are missing.

After working for a time with the Jerk Shack’s Lattoia Massey (aka chef Nicola Blaque) at her Pearl food hall stand Mi Roti, Lott took a tip from the celebrated chef and added a veggie sandwich, The Veg Head ($13 with fries). He marinates a thick slice of cauliflower in buttermilk, then dredges it in flour and fries it just like the chicken breast for a sandwich that doesn’t just imitate chicken, it celebrates the earthy, funky grandeur of cauliflower.

Fiesta’s finally back this year, but Chi Chi Birds celebrates it year-round with a Fiesta-grade chicken on a stick ($8) that’s almost too big to fit on a stick.

Meanwhile, the Chi Chi Birds operation has become a kind of incubator. Lott also has a side hustle, the smash-burger concept Slam Daddy Baddies, and his sous chef Sergio Flores operates the burger and torta concept La Tortuga, both pop-ups working under canopies the way Lott did back in the day.

Mike Sutter / Staff The Bird comes with two fried chicken tenders, hand-cut fries, slaw and Texas toast at the cheekily named food truck on the St. Mary’s Strip.