New place for hot chicken downtown: Hot Birds moving into Marble City Market

It’s time. Knoxville’s authentic hot chicken peddler is expanding.

On June 29, Amin Islam is moving his restaurant, Hot Birds, from Magnolia Avenue to its new home in the Marble City Market at 333 W. Depot Ave.

“Yes, it is daunting,” Islam said about the new venture, “but it is going to be super fun. We don’t have to worry about our people liking our product because we went through the trial and the hardship of fixing what we needed to move the past few years.”

From Islam’s beginning in catering to expansion into pickup, Hot Birds has been incredibly popular with Knoxvillians.

Islam’s passion for cooking started at a young age at home. “Growing up, my parents used to have guests over and I would help my mom and dad in the kitchen,” he said. “We would do 20- to 30-person gatherings all the time, so I learned how to make kababs, barbecue chicken, and that kind of stuff.”

About four years ago, Islam began to pursue his culinary instincts through catering.

“Last year I got laid off from my job, which my in-laws found out about from the News Sentinel piece that Al Lesar did about Hot Birds last year,” Islam quipped while laughing. “That was what propelled me to try something new.

“I tried real estate for a couple months, and then my partner Ashraf Ali and I started to experiment with hot chicken.”

After selling out three events in a row, Islam and Ali realized that people loved their food, a lot.

After much negotiating, Islam decided to go with Marble City Market instead of Kern’s Food Hall. He remains optimistic about both venues, however, saying that “Knoxville has room for both.”

While the chicken is always hand slaughtered (zabihah) and 100% halal, there is more going on behind the scenes to craft that perfect hot chicken taste. When I asked Islam what the secret is for their “hot birds,” he thought for a moment, then replied, “From our founding we have been about serving people. We are going to share our recipe. If people want to make it at home, they can do that.”

For Islam, the restaurant has always been an avenue to serve the people of Knoxville one dynamite hot chicken.