The Heat Is On

How hot do you like it? Bad Randy’s Hot Chicken & BBQ Lounge owner Jeremiah Galey wants you to know that any answer is just fine — even if it’s on the milder side.

The new West Side joint offers eight ratings of heat for a chicken sandwich, tenders, or a quarter (or half!) bird. Most diners, Galey says, choose a spice in the middle range, but even the bottommost rung — a southern variety with a modest cayenne pepper kick — packs plenty of taste.

It’s ultimately about flavor, Galey says, and flavor is abundant throughout Bad Randy’s menu.

The restaurant is Galey’s through and through — he rebranded the former Amy’s on Franklin in May after buying it earlier in the year. He was the lead chef at Amy’s and had earlier stints in the kitchens at The Hornet’s Nest Steakhouse and New Harmony, Indiana’s Red Geranium.

Galey notes there’s more to the menu beyond his spicy chicken varieties. He’s proud of his spicy crab linguine, for example, containing what he describes as “vodka sauce, which is basically tomato cream sauce with a little vodka in it. It’s got some bacon in it, Maryland blue crab, and little breadcrumbs on the top.”

Bad Randy’s has a Delmonico ribeye and filet mignon, as well as baby back ribs and steak frites. A table-pleasing appetizer are the hog fries, which stack pulled pork, chile con queso with red sauce, jalapeños, and barbecue rub on top of fried spuds.

Galey has added smoked chicken wings to his appetizer choices and roasted mashed potatoes with beef gravy to his lengthy list of sides.

On Sundays, Bad Randy’s is open for brunch. Galey says brisket hash is a hit, along with the spicy chicken biscuit, hot chicken and waffles, and hog benedict — a concoction of shredded pork and poached egg, with hollandaise and red barbecue sauce atop a honey butter biscuit.

Galey has long loved cooking, but owning his own restaurant has been a different kind of experience: “Even though I’ve been in the business for almost 20 years, sometimes I feel like a newbie,” he says. But he’s getting more comfortable by the day.

“I’ve learned a lot, and I’m still learning,” he says.