The Coop Nashville Lounge Opens In Farmingdale: 'Super, Super Excited'

FARMINGDALE, NY — Kick N' Chicken has completed its "recooperation," reopening as The Coop, a Nashville bar, lounge and restaurant, in Farmingdale.

The new venue is split into two sides: the eatery and takeout register, and a 21-and-over lounge with a bar, live music, and interactive piano shows. While the menu retains many of the Kick N' Chicken options, including tenders and sandwiches, it was expanded to feature barbecue meats cooked with an official smoker in-house. People can pay with cash now, too — Kick N' Chicken was previously cashless.

Kick N' Chicken closed this summer to make way for the rebrand.

"We’re super, super excited," Alec Fox, marketing manager, told Patch. "We put a ton of work into the place. It’s been nonstop the past few months remodeling, getting all the stuff ready with permits, and also decorating the place and making it look great. It feels very, very good. It’s a big accomplishment."

Fox said the lounge is trying to bring "real, authentic barbecue" to 346 Main St., Farmingdale.

"We want people to know it’s way more than just a chicken spot now," Fox said.

The Coop's menu features more appetizers, a double smashed burger, pulled pork, brisket, baby back ribs, and platters that come with sides. The drink menu features cocktails, beers and wines.

Bobby Bouyer, chief operating officer of The Coop, brings his chef experience and Louisiana roots to the village. He aims to bring a unique brand of barbecue with him.

"I don’t know if I would compare it to Kansas City versus Texas," Bouyer said. "We’re sort of going down this road of Long Island barbecue, which is geared toward the palette of Long Island and our local community."

Long Island barbecue, Bouyer said, is "big bold flavors," tenderness and attention to detail. In the Southern delta, he said, barbecue is more popular so people cook food in large volume. He said The Coop will take a "white gloves" approach to the cuisine.

"We wanted the flavor to be consistent. We want each bite to be as great as the next, so we took it a little bit more as a science rather than hurling in briskets three at a time where you don’t take the time to inject, spray, make sure there’s wood that’s been soaked. Each step of the process, we spend a lot more time than I would if we were in Texas right now."

Barbecue is one of the hardest concepts in cuisine, Bouyer said.

"It is not like burgers or Tex-Mex or anything simplistic where you can a la carte it," he said.

Employees are taught to load up food in a smoker and how to understand meat temperature and humidity. The Coop's barbecue technique is "low and slow," Bouyer said.

"We’re really operating a true smokehouse, because I’ve got an official smoker ... We’re using local wood to bring that real flavor into the barbecue to make it authentic."

The decor, music and big focus on live music is what makes The Coop a Nashville bar and lounge, Fox explained.

"Something about the Nashville style is very cozy, relaxed and open to a great, fun time," he said. "We can have a very chill night in here but we could also be fun, lively, have a great crowd and people dancing. It’s open for everything."

Many local artists, musicians and bands will be featured, which Fox said will be a "crucial element" to the lounge's success.

Bouyer said The Coop will offer "great music and great entertainment," which is what the business's mantra is. While the venue will offer great food and a great bar, the entertainment will give people another reason to visit, he said.

"We’ve got entertainment by way of trivia, karaoke, fun Bingo nights, local musicians who are 'amateurs' as well as entertainers who have opened up for Billy Joel," Bouyer said. "Country and rock is where want to live as the music we are looking for."

Every Thursday, the lounge will feature dueling pianos. Fox noted that Black Forest Brew Haus used to do it every week before it closed. Dueling pianos is an interactive show where the performers engage the audience with plenty of humor.

Customers can request any kind of song they want between two piano players and a drummer. They can put a request on top of a piano, and if either one of the players knows it, they battle it out to switch songs, or if there are a lot of requests for a certain artist or song, they’ll go back and forth and constantly change the music, Fox said.

The Coop has its own identity as a new brand compared to Kick N' Chicken, Fox said.

"We’d like to keep all the great customers we had with Kick N’ Chicken but kind of expand to a bigger audience," he said. "It’s a total revamp. Kick N’ Chicken in Huntington is still our sister location, but this is a whole, totally different thing now."

Bouyer said he wanted to pay homage to Kick N' Chicken, and The Coop does that by retaining many Kick N' Chicken dishes.

"At the end of the day, hopefully, the Nashville food marries with a little bit more holistic approach to southern all-American cuisine," Bouyer said. "Great barbecue, great Nashville Kick N’ Chicken sandwiches. Seems like a recipe for success."

The side of The Coop that used to be Kick N' Chicken is still family-friendly and suited for teenagers looking for a meal after school, Bouyer said. But now, adults can go next door, have a cocktail and listen to music.

The Coop is also offering takeout deals, from rotisserie or buttermilk chicken to a platter of baby back ribs, wings and pulled pork.