Or maybe it's the final touch, smothering the whole thing in a secret blend of herbs and Ethiopian imported spices.

That's got Washingtonians talking about the family behind this fried chicken sandwich.

Oh, this thing pretty crispy is juicy.

Oh, hell, yeah.

This damn thing was good.

Perfectly Chris Pot fried chicken sandwiches.

What roaming rooster is known for And the family that owns it have taken the flavors of their upbringing to transform the traditional Southern comfort dish into something that's quickly becoming a staple.

Not Nashville, but right here in Washington D.

C.

So this is your third time in, like, a week?

Yes.

Okay, a week the third time.

Okay, that's crazy.

Your cardiologist's gonna have something to say about this.

A bit off the beaten path in Washington D.

C.

Amongst warehouses and a shipping facility, sits a small but busy restaurant known for a chicken sandwich that's better than well, pop.

I ain't got nothing on this.

I've eaten Popeye's.

I've eaten chicken from different places.

But something about this and comparisons.

The chicken behemoth aren't new for the family that runs roaming Rooster.

When the Chicken Sandwich Wars broke out in 2019 with Popeye's and Chick fil A in a battle for the best, a single tweet landed owners Connie and Benny in the middle of the Clash in D.

C.

The night the Tweet went live was supposed to be one of their first family vacations in years.

It was just nonstop busy.

We had a lineup after lineup after lineup on I said, You know, we're not gonna leave tomorrow.

The line was for this.

The hot fried chicken sandwich.

The Nashville Hot starts the blend of spices and aromatics, smoked paprika, cayenne, brown sugar, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.

And since no newsworthy dish is complete without at least one secret ingredient, then comes the family spice mix, made and shipped by Connie's family in Ethiopia.

The couple wouldn't say what's in the blend, but made it clear this is what gives the chicken that unique, spicy kick running rooster Onley uses free range Chicken, which went sold on a food truck, explains the name.

The chicken is dredged, breaded and fried until perfectly crispy and browned before it stepped into hot, spicy oil toe lock in flavor and give the chicken it's first level of heat.

If you're mild person, the chicken stops there, but if you're into medium hot or the off the menu extra hot.

More secret spice blend is piled on for the desired kick.

The finished chicken is placed on a bed of homemade vinaigrette slaw, a mix of crisp, freshly shredded cabbage, crunchy red onion, spicy jalapeno and fresh parsley and cilantro for cool, refreshing bite.

Then the whole thing is topped with a plush bun.

I like how you taste the vinegar wrapped on the hot sauce at the same time.

Soon as you bite, it doesn't like kicking.

Later.

Earl assumes you buy.

You taste everything.

E think it's perfect.

Benny, the brains behind the recipe, didn't start out wanting to make fried chicken growing up in Ethiopia.

As the oldest of five Children, Benny became the designated family cook and developed a penchant for cooking young.

His family moved to Ottawa when he was a teen, and at some point Benny began traveling to D.

C to hang out with friends, which is where he met Connie, 32 married and shortly after decided to pour the remainder of their savings into starting their own business.

We just got married.

We don't have that much money waiting.

So whatever money we have left, we invested on a food truck will build one tribe, and that's how everything started.

The couple tried their hand at more than one food check idea from shawarma and falafel in honor.

Binny's Ottawa routes to made to order pizza, never really hitting it big until one day we're just sitting home watching TV Food Network on thing.

And they were showing fried chicken sandwich like Man, that looks good.

We said, you know, why don't we make it?

We had the truck, we had the fryer and everything.

So we made a sandwich.

It was okay.

Ever the perfectionist, okay, just didn't cut it.

So Benny, Connie and Benny's brother, Mike, packed the kids in the car.

She could drive to City known for hot fried chicken Nashville That weekend, Wait, a chicken, spicy fried chicken in hand.

They threw a couple fires in the back of the box truck and hit the road.

We went out first day on.

Then we got sold out in less than an hour.

Second, the same thing sold out.

Didn't even take us an hour on the custom.

Gonna get mad.

Third, a customer got mad.

I remember when we start was really hard, it was only me and him.

We start with 14 truck, so we gotta get up early morning.

Gotta prep for everything loaded.

And then we go downtown.

Self.

When we finish, we have to come.

We have toe unloaded all the stuff.

We have to watch the truck.

Oh, my gosh.

A true family operation.

Benny brought Mike on board to help.

As one by one, their other food trucks were slowly converted into running roosters.

He actually helped us the build out of the truck.

He had think about two employees and then they start running that truck.

We start running the first truck with more success.

The couple decided to try their hand at counter service, converting the off the beaten path commissary into a restaurant to make demand a bit more manageable For a short time, it waas so manageable.

In fact, they decided to seek their first family vacation in over five years.

But then, of course, there was the tweet, and they haven't taken a day off sense.

Even their two kids are in on the operation now, spending time in the kitchen watching and helping their parents cook.

We've been worked so hard for almost 10 years.

Yeah, hopefully by the grown up they were gonna take over.

So there will be proud off.

That's my mom, my dad, you know, building.

So that's my dream.

I definitely should have brought napkins.

It's just so good.

It is really is so good.

So they take the chicken out of the fryer and then they different right into that flavored oil.

But it's still not greasy.

The hot is hot, but it's not one of those hot that like burns your whole pallet.

I feel like my mouth will be a little bit on fire, but like a fun way, you can taste the smoke pipe break up.

You can taste the cayenne, the secret spice mix that's in there.

It has this really unique flavor.

It's like spicy, but it's flavorful, and it's not in any way overwhelming when you start to eat it and you start to feel the spice, then comes in the coleslaw which is vinegary.

You can taste the launcher.

You can taste the parsley on, the coleslaw comes in and it just huts the spice perfectly.

It's so well balanced.

I'm not lying.

When I said that this is probably the best fried chicken sandwich I've ever had.

The amount of flavor that they will to pack into one bite is like, honestly, kind of astounding.

If I had one of these near my apartment, I'd be here all the time.

Like Thing is, even hype.

It's just delicious.

The bad is good.

The whole damn sandwiches.

Good.

Come on down.

Get your sandwich.

I'm telling you, is worth it.