![\"Mike's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/CVC-L-MIKESHOTCHICKEN-0221-1.jpg\")
Mike\u2019s Hot Chicken in Wyoming on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\nThis chicken is hot.<\/p>\n
Several restaurants in the region are introducing the hot chicken trend that is sweeping the nation \u2014 a spicy, crispy and saucy chicken sandwich.<\/p>\n
Shams Hot Chicken opened several months ago in the Sunoco Gas station at Wyoming Avenue and Northampton Street in Kingston and recently moved into its own location at the former Dagwood\u2019s Deli at 418 Market St. due to its popularity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI put my last dollar into this to the point I didn\u2019t have the money,\u201d said owner Shams Said, 21. \u201cGod didn\u2019t let me go. He was on my side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said said he tries to make his chicken featuring a unique Pakistani flavor with a variety of levels of spice from mild to inferno.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unique. The flavor is what matters and the experience we try to give them,\u201d Said said. \u201cI try to make every platter look in a way I would want to eat it too and it goes out picture perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike\u2019s Hot Chicken in Wyoming on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n
Shams had people camped out for its opening day of the new location on Feb. 1. He was raffling off a Playstation video game system, a 55-inch TV, cash and other gift cards.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going really well. We constantly have many customers. Every single day, it\u2019s been pretty packed,\u201d Said said.<\/p>\n
Mike\u2019s Hot Chicken opened up on Super Bowl Sunday at \u00a0295 Wyoming Ave. in Wyoming months after the national chain Dave\u2019s Hot Chicken opened at 700 Commerce Boulevard in Dickson City.<\/p>\n
Asad\u2019s Hot Chicken will open within the month in the Wilkes Plaza at 200 Wilkes-Barre Twp. Boulevard in Wilkes-Barre Twp. in the former Little Mexico storefront.<\/p>\n
The owner of Asad\u2019s, Tariq Shah, has been serving chicken to area residents for many years.<\/p>\n
Shah, a former longtime employee of the Crown Fried Chicken on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre, opened his own location on the Sans Souci Parkway in Hanover Twp. in the fall of 2020.<\/p>\n
He notes hot chicken is very much different from traditional fried chicken, but he thinks he can handle both.<\/p>\n
\u201cHot chicken is very popular in Wilkes-Barre. And in places like New Jersey and New York,\u201d Shah said. \u201cWilkes Barre Twp. is a busy location. We think we will have a good response.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This chicken is hot. Several restaurants in the region are introducing the hot chicken trend that is sweeping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[35979,182,803,139,28,435,178,180,179,289,802,11015,804],"class_list":{"0":"post-120588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-kingston","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-luzerne-county","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-restaurants-food-and-drink","14":"tag-scranton","15":"tag-scranton-headlines","16":"tag-scranton-news","17":"tag-things-to-do","18":"tag-top-stories-cvc","19":"tag-wilkes-barre-township","20":"tag-wyoming"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}