Louisville hot chicken joint returns to the classics with new owners
Remember when a little restaurant known for hot chicken dropped hot chicken from its menu and caused a not-so-little uproar?
It was less than a year ago that Louie's Hot Chicken & Barbecue closed temporarily to rework its concept and reopened as Louie's Soups & Sandwiches.
“But why?” one commenter wrote, adding eight extra question marks.
"Is it true that the best hot chicken around is gone?" read another question.
While some offered "congrats," others wrote "Oh no!" or "what a letdown."
Behind the screen, something new was brewing for Louie's, as the shop's original owner Jon Mitchell was deciding what to do next with the business he opened with two friends in 2018 at 4222 Poplar Level Road. He would soon sell Louie's to longtime employee Mark McClain and his two sons, Camron and Mark, the group of new owners told The Courier Journal.
The whole soup and sandwich debacle hurried the deal in motion.
"The community was not happy," the younger Mark McClain told The Courier Journal. "As soon as they switched to soups and sandwiches, the social media page blew up."
After stewing on it, the elder Mark McClain, a pitmaster at Louie's, expressed to his two sons his dream of owning Louie's and bringing back the original menu.
"That was something that really motivated my dad," the younger Mark McClain said. "He was like, 'Hey, fellas, we have something here. I know we have something here.' It was just a matter of taking a leap of faith and taking a shot at it."
Louie's Hot Chicken & Barbecue, 4222 Poplar Level Road, serves popular dishes such as smoked chicken wings and spicy chicken tenders.
By November 2025, they took the leap and shouted out their shot with another Facebook post saying, "Louie’s is back!"
"I could see why a lot of folks in the city weren't too happy with the change, so we were more than happy to make that change back," Camron McClain said.
At the heart of continuing Louie's Hot Chicken & Barbecue is family. Both Camron McClain and his brother, Mark, have day jobs and neither have directly worked at Louie's.
"If I'm being completely honest, it's not about the money. It's honestly not even about the food for me," Camron McClain said.
"This was one of my brother's final jobs before he passed away," Camron McClain said. "Food was just his vehicle and his mechanism to reach in the world. It was his love language."
He sees owning Louie's as a way to reconnect with his late brother and help his father "fulfill one of his lifelong dreams."
If you show up to Louie's, you'll usually see the elder Mark McClain, who slings popular items such as smoked chicken wings, a hot chicken sandwich and a hot chicken tender plate.
Louie's Hot Chicken & Barbecue, 4222 Poplar Level Road, serves popular dishes such as smoked chicken wings and spicy chicken tenders.
But, just as Louie's name suggests, he's also known for another type of food.
"We have friends and family from all over that specifically come here for my dad's brisket," Camron McClain said. "Anybody that knows my dad knows he knows how to smoke a brisket."
Louie's serves a beef brisket sandwich for $19 and beef brisket by the pound for $29.99, along with pulled pork and pulled chicken.
"It was a hobby that turned into a job," the elder Mark McClain said. "Getting the opportunity to be close to the boys and work beside them is really exciting."
And he's excited to say that the place he's worked at for eight years is now his.
"It's family-owned now," he said. "It''s just a good family environment with good food."
We featured Louie's Hot Chicken & Barbecue in the latest installment of our series, "Best Thing I Ate This Week." You can follow along by visiting Instagram.com/courierjournal.
Reach food and dining reporter Amanda Hancock at [email protected].
