Pies ‘n’ Thighs

Fried chicken, our new New York City food obsession. Okay, not particularly new, especially as many of the better places have been around awhile, but lots of new restaurants specializing in deep-fried bird have been opening lately, replacing, say, cupcakes, or artisanal pizzas as the food of the moment.

Pies ‘n’ Thighs has been around for several years, existing as a kind of outdoor open-secret thing until the Department of Health got around to shutting that down until they found appropriate indoor space. You might remember Yvo visiting as part of her Fried Chicken Feast a few months back (or her simple chicken biscuit at Madison Square Park’s Mark’t). She isn’t the only fan of fried chicken on the site, however, and as I’ve been making more and more at home, I’ve developed a bit of an idea about what I like. So when a friend had the night to himself to carouse in Brooklyn, I offered up Pies ‘n’ Thighs as a starting point for a belly full of good food.

We arrived around 6:30, not late enough to be laughably delayed by a ton of other people waiting for the opportunity to eat. The restaurant is nondescript to the point of not even having a real sign with their name on it. You can sort of see the hand-made sign in the window where the bench is — a bench that always seems to have people sitting on it, so the sign’s obscured anyway.

We were seated after a couple of minutes at one of the many mismatched tables in the front room — there’s a covered area in the back — and, well, you have to eat the fried chicken if you don’t eat here all the time, right?

We started off with the hush puppies, fried to perfection. The tartar sauce-like goo was interesting, but not really suited to the hush puppies; I’d rather have seen honey butter, or nothing at all. Hot sauce makes them better, of course.

The chicken arrived quickly, fresh from the deep, deep fryer. Three pieces comprise the Chicken Box, and a biscuit and a side arrive alongside. I chose the mac and cheese, because I always seem to. Three good size pieces, a drumstick, thigh and breast, accompany a heaping scoop of the comfort-food staple, topped with a little hot sauce — Red Devil maybe? — and a comically-tall buttermilk biscuit.

We both ordered Arnold Palmers because, well, both the tea and lemonade are freshly-made, so why not? It tasted perfectly fine, and I’m pretty sure that’s about the only thing I’ll drink even though there’s a reasonable selection of beers as well. Chicken needs lemonade and sweet tea, after all.

These are straight-up fried chicken parts, not batter-fried, and it’s crisped wonderfully. There’s a bit of salt in the skin, and inside, even the breast drips juice. More on that later.

The mac and cheese? It’s hard to screw it up, and while the macaroni wasn’t cooked al dente, there’s a ton of cheese with which to contend, and it’s even better with hot sauce.

My friend had the chicken as well, opting instead for the cole slaw, which he loved. It’s minced, not shredded cabbage and onion and so forth, and not mayonnaise but vinegar, and he enjoyed it greatly. (Note he’s got two drumsticks and a breast.)

I sank my teeth into the drumstick first to get a sense of the taste. This… is… so… good! The meat has so much flavor and looks beautiful, too. That isn’t undercooked, that’s just excellent dark meat.

As I moved on to the breast, it remained tender and juicy, and the crispiness of the skin juxtaposed with the soft, tender meat made for interesting bites all the way through the meal. The chicken didn’t need hot sauce, but since it was on the table, of course I added it to the “extra” skin just to see.

Oh, right, the biscuit. It barely needs to be said that Pies ‘n’ Thighs knows their biscuits, and must use about a half-stick of butter per. Fluffy insides , crunchy outer shell, just beautiful. Alas, only one per meal. I suggest coming here with someone watching their carbohydrate intake.

We opted against ordering one of the dozen-plus pies in order to not have to be rolled out of there. It may not look like a lot of food, but trust me, it’s plenty.

I think it’s obvious I recommend Pies ‘n’ Thighs. Sure, there’s a hipster factor to overcome, but what in Williamsburg doesn’t have that? The meals are reasonably-priced, and honestly, try your best to save room for pie. Without pie, we each put down $20 or so for a meal (including tax and tip) that filled us up and tasted excellent. The hardest part of the whole experience is moving past the chicken to try the rest of the menu!