If you weren't hungry at the start of the line, you're sure to get hungry by the time you reach the end of it. A grueling long wait for fried chicken that is surely to be too spicy for me to tolerate? Definitely not something I would sign up for. But it is an LA institution. I'll admit it. Curiosity got the better of me.

Even if you get there early in the morning, chances are you will still be faced with a long line. I have heard that is the case, even on weekdays. A friend of mine went on a Tuesday afternoon around 4PM and waited about an hour or so, so perhaps that is the sweet spot. If you plan well in advance, you can place a pre-order. Some parties definitely came prepared as they brought bottles of bourbon and whiskey while they ate their chicken.

Firstly, their chicken are put to sleep before they are slaughtered, so as to make it more tender. I must say this is effective. Their chicken is tender and juicy, and that is hard to do with fried chicken breast, which dries out pretty fast.

Secondly, here's the deal with the spiciness:

Country: no heat Mild: a little cayenne Medium: Mild + a little ghost pepper Hot: Medium+ habanero X-Hot: Hot + scorpion Howlin': X-Hot + Carolina reaper When you order the Howlin' chicken, they provide you gloves to protect your hands. They'll also state a disclaimer: there's a 2-day recovery period. The chicken is served with white bread, to balance out the heat, I suppose.

We had the $9 Quarter Bird - leg & thigh (Medium), $9 three wings (1 Hot, 1 X-Hot, 1 Howlin'), As for me, mild was just fine. There is a stark contrast between mild and medium. Beyond that, they are all too spicy for me, so much so that I can barely tell the difference between the three. I took the slightest nibble of howlin' and that was already too hot for me. A friend of mine from Thailand ate an entire Howlin' wing and didn't even flinch. I'm amazed. My other friends noted that the spiciness was just one-note; super hot with a lot of smokiness, but not a lot of complexity in the spiciness.

$12 The Sando - boneless breast, slaw, comeback sauce, pickles, butter bun: This is a winner for me. As I mentioned, chicken breast is often dry, so that makes me less inclined to order fried chicken. This is such a good chicken sandwich. Not only is the chicken breast juicy, but the sauce provides a delicious tanginess. The pickles and cole slaw add some crunch and sweetness, and are acidic enough to cut through the heaviness. The bun is also nicely toasted, which is great. I always say half the appeal of a sandwich comes from how good the bread is.

$4 Shake Fries w/ Comeback Sauce: The sauce is good, but I don't care for crinkle cut fries. I'll take them or leave them. Mr. Joy loves all fried potato products, hence why we ordered these.

$5 Solo Waffle (weekends only): We only ordered this, because we waited hours on a weekend. Being that waffles are only available on weekends, there was no way we could not order it. The waffle definitely surpassed my expectations. It is substantial, thick, and most importantly, it is crunchy. No soggy waffle here.

I definitely enjoy the Sando, but I don't think I could ever wait that long for a sandwich again. Also, I know there must be a lot of people out there who are curious to try Howlin' Ray's, but it does bum me out that most of us cannot handle such spicy food, and thus, a lot of chicken probably just ends up in the trash. Plus, they use quite a bit of packaging to keep the different wings separate.

It seems to me Howlin' may very well have the ability to expand their operations, but they may prefer catering to long lines to see proof of how popular they are. It would be nice if they did expand and streamlined their operations, they wouldn't have to deal with such a heinous line, nor would people lose half the day every time they have a Howlin' Ray's craving. On the other hand, it definitely looks like their workers enjoy interacting with people in line.