Brooklyn's Hottest Bar-B-Que Joint Has a Fried-Chicken Sister Restaurant on the Way

By John V. Santore and Simone Wilson

RED HOOK, BROOKLYN — It may not look like it yet, but the corner of Sullivan and Van Brunt streets will soon host one of the neighborhood's most hotly anticipated restaurants.

Hometown Pan Fried Chicken, to be located at 329 Van Brunt St., is the brainchild of renowned bar-b-que expert and restaurateur Billy Durney, a hulk of a guy with a torso full of tattoos and a permanent spot in the heart of meat lovers citywide.

Just six blocks southwest, near the docks, Durney already owns and operates Hometown Bar-B-Que.

That 5,000-square-foot space has been fêted as New York's best bar-b-que joint. But for his next act, Durney said he has something different in mind.

The impending arrival of Hometown Pan Fried Chicken was first reported early this year. However, Durney said the project was delayed due to structural problems with his new building at Van Brunt and Sullivan, which is more than a century old.

Those matters are currently being addressed, he said, and the new restaurant should open by April at the "absolute latest."

What's coming is a 900-square-foot space with under 40 seats, one featuring a "really authentically old-fashioned" aesthetic defined by wooden floors and crystal glassware — like if McSorley's Old Ale House sold chicken, as Durney put it.

Here's how things will go down at Hometown Pan Fried Chicken. You'll start your meal with a teacup full of bone broth served with a piece of chicken skin, Durley said, to "get you in store for what's about to happen." Then you'll "get a mug of ale, sit down and have a really old-fashioned traditional fried chicken supper" — one that puts the whole bird to use, including livers and gizzards and all the rest.

(Hometown Pan Fried Chicken will serve Bell & Evans birds, which are raised without hormones or antibiotics.)

Food preparation will take time, Durney said — perhaps 20 minutes — because the chicken will be cooked in a cast iron skillet, not deep-fried. That's "just the most authentic way to do it," he said.

While the menu's details are still being hashed out, Durney has settled on some sides, including "beautiful mashed potatoes with gravy," collard greens, buttermilk biscuits, cole slaw and beans. Plus pie for dessert, of course.

Booze-wise, plenty of ale and "great spirits" will be on hand, Durney said. (Indeed: On Monday, Community Board 6's licensing committee voted to back the restaurant's liquor license application.)

The end goal? "To create flavors that bring you back to your childhood," the chef said.

In addition to its eat-in space, the new restaurant will also be equipped with a takeout and delivery window — one that will serve deep-fried chicken, Durney said, to keep cooking times shorter.

And there's good news for Red Hook's neighbors further inland: Durley said he expects to deliver his chicken to nearby areas like Park Slope, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens and the Columbia Waterfront.

As of now, Durney plans to keep his fried-chicken joint open until 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, until 12 a.m. on Friday, and until 1 a.m. on Saturday. However, he's considering keeping the takeout window open until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Durney said he'll have a small staff of fewer than 12 employees — but he isn't doing any hiring yet. Some of the restaurant's food will also be prepared at a commissary kitchen Durney's building in Industry City, which should also open around April.

Until then, the owner said he's focused on creating "a really beautiful, small, quaint, charming place in the most authentic way."

Pictured at top: Future home of Hometown Pan Fried Chicken. Photo by John V. Santore