SAN DIEGO — A popular hot chicken restaurant with multiple San Diego County locations is no longer limited to meat-eaters.
Starting Monday, Dave's Hot Chicken will offer cauliflower sliders and bites made with the same spices as the fast casual food chain's signature hot chicken. Dave's operates a popular late-night spot on Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach in addition to locations in Mira Mesa, El Cajon, Escondido and Oceanside.
“For years, our fans have been asking us to make a meatless option that has all the flavor, crunch and spice of our Hot Chicken,” Dave's Hot Chicken CEO Bill Phelps said in a news release.
The fast casual chain is calling its "Dave's NOT Chicken" vegetarian friendly because the cauliflower is cooked in the same fryer used to cook chicken, spokesperson Josh Levitt said. However, guests can request their cauliflower be cooked in a separate fryer used for french fries, which are vegetarian.
The cauliflower sliders will be made from a fresh, whole head of cauliflower, hand-sliced, seasoned and fried to order, according to the release. Dave's says it's the first national fast casual restaurant to have a cauliflower sandwich.
“After spending weeks in the test kitchen testing countless different products, just like the founders did back in the parking lot pop-up days, we’ve created a meat-alternative that’s so tasty, even our most dedicated Hot Chicken loyalists will want to try it," Phelps said.
Dave's Hot Chicken began as a parking lot pop-up in L.A. in 2017, started by three childhood friends. Since then, the rapper Drake became an investor, and the restaurant has expanded to more than 700 franchise locations in the United States, Middle East and Canada.
The vegetarian option is the restaurant's first new core menu item since its pop-up days. It will be available for a limited time at more than 170 locations in North America.
The Pacific Beach location is one of several across the country that changed their signs from "Dave's Hot Chicken" to "Dave's NOT Chicken" to commemorate the occasion.
The chain joins a growing list of fast food companies expanding their menu items to appeal to vegetarians. Burger King debuted its "Impossible Whopper" nationwide in 2019, followed by KFC's "Beyond Fried Chicken" in 2020. McDonald's announced plant-based nuggets early last year alongside the "McPlant burger" it's had on its menu since 2021.
Chick-fil-A tested a cauliflower sandwich in a few markets early last year, but not in California.
WATCH RELATED: Grilled Cauliflower Steak with Gremolata | Cooking with Styles