Forget Raising Cane’s, Popeye’s, or Chick-fil-A; there’s a new player in town. Epic Hot Chicken at 14043 Manchester Road is a locally owned restaurant changing the game when it comes to spicy fried chicken in West County.
Meet the hot chicken connoisseur: Muhammad Waqaszahoor. Formerly a software developer, Waqaszahoor spent time traveling around the country when inspiration suddenly struck in 2023.
“The majority of my time was spent eating out at restaurants, and I’m seeing hot chicken everywhere,” Waqaszahoor said. “It’s very popular, and I thought: I can make this – what’s so special about hot chicken?”
So, he started experimenting. After two years of testing different cuts of chicken, various spice blends, sauces and different brining methods, Wahqaszahoor had finally cracked the hot chicken code. But that wasn’t enough to garner interest from investors. A work trip to Houston gave Wahqaszahoor the missing piece he needed: adding smashburgers to the menu.
By 2024, Waqaszahoor had signed a lease and started renovating. The space has a seating space capacity of 90 people, and Waqaszahoor wanted to create something that was both catchy and family-friendly. There’s even a kids’ play corner so that families can eat in peace.
The design, which took almost a month and a half of back-and-forth revisions, layers bright, eye-catching graffiti designs with nods to home.
“This [restaurant] is St. Louis born. You know, I’m from St. Louis,” Waqaszahoor said. “I was 12 when I moved here from Pakistan, and I haven’t been back since. I got married here, had kids here, even graduated here.”
Before their grand opening this spring, Wahqaszahoor and his team spent weeks slowly rolling out their menu. The first week was spent serving hot chicken, Wahqaszahoor explained, which allowed his team to take customer feedback and adjust spice levels. By their opening week, Epic Hot Chicken had fine-tuned its entire menu: hot chicken, smashburgers, and wings, as well as milkshakes, boba and smoothies.
All menu items are made to order, but the food is worth the wait. Within 15 minutes, the food is delivered to the table, steaming hot. The classic chicken slider comes on a buttered bun, complete with pickles, crunchy k-slaw, and the signature Epic sauce. The breading is crispy on the outside, but the chicken is juicy and tender within, thanks to the lengthy brining process. While the tender is nice and big, it tends to stick out of the bun, which some may find unwieldy, but serves as a perfect opportunity to dunk it in some Epic Sauce.
“Everything we make fresh… I need 10 to 15 [minutes], but still, people are happy when they eat it. They’re like, ‘Oh, yes, worth the wait,’” Wahqaszahoor said.
Each of the chicken combinations comes with a customer’s choice of spice level, which starts at “no spice” and goes up to Epic Sauce, which contains a Carolina Reaper base. If you want to try the spiciest level, you’ll have to sign a waiver, Wahqaszahoor explained.
If hot chicken doesn’t tickle your fancy, opt for a smashburger, which is crafted in-house with Wahqaszahoor’s specialty blend of 11 herbs and spices. The ESOB, short for the Epic Smashed Onion Burger, combines grilled onions, smashed patties, pickles, and American cheese served on a soft potato roll.
But the true test of any fast food restaurant lies in the delectability of its fries. And frankly, Epic Hot Chicken knocks them out of the park. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, they’re the perfect vehicle for the Epic Sauce, which truly is the unassuming flavor bomb. Akin to a creamy spicy mayo, the Epic sauce ends with a sweet kick that mellows out the taste buds.
Epic Hot Chicken may be built on fried chicken and smashed burgers, but its real currency is time: time spent brining and testing recipes, time spent choosing wall designs, and now, time families spend watching their kids run between tables. In time, this won’t just be where people grab dinner – it’ll be where the neighborhood shows up.
Visit Epic Hot Chicken, open Sunday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Follow their Instagram, Facebook, and website for more updates.