Sher Hot Chicken Opens In Downtown State College

A halal cart that has been delighting the State College community’s tastebuds for the past six years has expanded and diversified with a new restaurant.

Sher Hot Chicken opened on Thursday at 145 S. Allen St. The space inside the Baroutsis Building was previously home to Woodring’s Floral Gardens, which closed its State College location in 2022.

The restaurant is the second location for owner Nanat Rahmaa, whose Sher Halal Gyro and Grill operates at the corner of South Pugh Street and East Beaver Avenue.

As you might guess by the name, Sher Hot Chicken offers a different kind of menu, though still halal. While the cart offers gyros and chicken, lamb, and falafel with rice, the restaurant has more of what manager Ali Hazrat described as a fast food menu.

And though there is a cheeseburger and fries on the menu, it’s not necessarily your typical fast food.

The featured item is, of course, hot chicken, which comes in a selection of pieces, burgers, and tenders, and can be ordered spicy or mild. The tenders, Hazrat said, use a different breading than the fried chicken.

Hazrat said they were inspired by a cousin who manages eateries in Philadelphia specializing in the Nashville-style dish and decided to offer their own take on it.

He added that while there are a number of options for fried chicken in State College, few offer hot chicken.

“The students love the food in the cart, and I hope that they will also love the fried chicken too,” Hazrat said. “We were inspired by [his cousin] to have this different menu and a different option for people… So if anybody doesn’t want the rice or the gyros [at the cart] they can come here and have another choice.”

The menu also includes cheesesteaks, both Philly-style and chicken (again, hot or mild) as well as burgers. In addition to cheeseburgers and chicken burgers, the menu features a kebab burger.

“That is basically a Pakistani type burger, which the meat, we ground it and we mix it with different spices,” Hazrat said.

Other specialties include halal lamb shank and rice and shawarma.

For desert, Sher Hot Chicken offers Italian ice cream in three varieties: Arabian, vanilla, and mango.

The restaurant is designed for both takeout and for those who want to sit down inside and enjoy their meal.

“We appreciate both of them,” Hazrat said. “If somebody wants to come in and dine in, and they want to sit and eat, there’s a good atmosphere for them. If they want a little music, and they want to watch games, or they want to watch the news, everything for them is available there. Or if they are in a hurry, they want to take the food and go home, take out is also available.”

Sher’s hours, starting Monday, will run from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Monday through Saturday.