Friday, June 12, 2015

The wait for the Fuku fried chicken sandwich


[The line on East 10th Street around noon today]

EVG reader Chad Solomon stopped by the hyped-up Fuku, the new quick-serve fried chicken sandwich place from Momofuku's David Chang that opened Wednesday at 163 First Ave. just north of East 10th Street.

Here's what he had to say:

"Line was around the corner — took us about 35 minutes to get inside to order but then another 45 to wait for the food, so an hour and 20 minutes total. But my God was it worth it — crispy and flavorful on the outside, nice and juicy inside."





Fuku is currently only open Wednesday-Sunday for lunch from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

35 comments:

JAZ said...

"so an hour and 20 minutes total. But my God was it worth it"

woooooo

Walter said...

Wow. What can I say, it's a new era down here. An 80 minutes wait for f.r.i.e.d c.h.i.c.k.e.n ... f.r.i.e.d c.h.i.c.k.e.n really? WOW

Anonymous said...

Silly kids, got to go on all social media to be the first, only to move on to the next mediocra hype never to return.
So goes the 'hood

Anonymous said...

They should call that sandwich "The Daywrecker" 'cause there's no way you're getting any work done after you eat that thing.

Mark Hand The Catchman said...

Silly Kids indeed... and by next summer that location will probably have closed and be an empty shell. Had great fried chicken at a soul food shack last week; waiting time: ZERO.

Walter said...

Looks like the same kind of people who stood on line for 2 hours for a cronut, when that was in fashion.

Giovanni said...

The good news is if you are a chicken you get to go to the front of the line so they can chop your head off and serve you to someone who will forget what they had to eat an hour later.

Anonymous said...

Why the hell would anyone wait in line for over an hour for a chicken sandwich?

FUKU2 ... said...

FUKU fried chicken is an entirely appropriate name. We all want a second one. I say call it FUKU2.

Pinch said...

Eater was tweeting (or something) the opening by the minute the other day. It was like following the '86 Mets in the World Series!

Anonymous said...

Hey kids, try learning to cook, it's not that hard. It might seem hard at first, but practice and you'll get better. The key is to take care and don't be heavy handed.

Then you won't be dependent on others for quality food, or have to stand around like an animal waiting to be fed.

Anonymous said...

That's right kids! 6:45 is so right! Need liquor? Why go to a liquor store to buy it! Make it at home in the bathtub or sink. It's easy. Need clothes? Don't be a sheep and buy them like everyone else, make them yourself! Come to think of it, there's NEVR EVER a reason to buy anything — you should be able to take lessons and presto! It might seem hard at first, but practice and you'll get better. The key is to take care and don't be heavy handed.

Why stand around like an animal waiting to buy ANYTHING EVER! We are freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Anonymous said...

Foodies and food tourists will justify wasting 2 hours of their lives for fried chicken, a cornet, some ramen soup, etc... The definition of living to eat not eating to live.

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:55, not a big fan of self-reliance, eh?

You'll fit right in, in the "new" East Village.

That's ok, to each his own.

TC said...

I believe it was the wise, talented Taylor Swift who once said "Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate". There are many worse ways to spend a sunny summer early afternoon than hanging outside for a while and being rewarded with a delicious sandwich. This fried chicken is here to stay.

Anonymous said...

Smelly greasy chicken fat smell is coming to that area via the exhaust pipes.

Does anyone ever walk by the Blue Ribbon chicken place on Second ave and First street? I still don't get how all of those corporate types living in the Jupiter building live with the smelly greasy chicken fumes from that place, which admittedly is not terrible.

Anonymous said...

That looks disgusting. Death on a roll.

- East Villager

Crazy Eddie said...

So a typical new school EVer quotes Taylor Swift with the "hater" line.

Kill me now! End it!

You know, you foodie trendies would have been very happy "back in the USSR!" Back then, the motto was: If you see a line, get on it.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I see that pink bermuda shorts and flip-flops/boat shoes are merely optional, not required, to get a spot on line at this place. Maybe I should try it?

Anonymous said...

WTF? An hour and twenty minutes? For a chicken sandwich? Really? In the humidity? Really? I am speechless.

Anonymous said...

Millennials and old people love standing in line for stuff don't they?

Anonymous said...

These people are such fuckin losers. Speaking of chicken sandwiches tho I tried that Shnitz place, I think it's what it's called, it's basically chicken sandwiches, in the East Village by Veniero's, and it was excellent.

IzF said...

Bobwhite on Avenue C has the fried chicken sandwich. EVER.

Annie Gosfield said...

I tried the sandwich on opening day - it was delicious, generous, and fairly priced. If you live in the EV just go when there is no line, I agree that it's nuts to brave 85 degree heat in NYC to wait in line. In the long run we will have one more affordable, well run, high quality place to eat in the neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

Buy chicken breasts. Drench in egg whites. Immerse in a flour. Then onto breadcrumbs mixed with panko. Spice it up with cayenne. Spray Pam onto pan and place the chicken on it in a preheated 375 oven for 35 minutes. It will be faster and healthier than anything you could buy at a place where you don't know if the cooks waged their hands before God only knows what was on them before. No thanks needed. Love, Mom

Anonymous said...

to TC @8:13PM:
Despite the fact that some of you are being very obedient dogs, it's not a reward, it's a purchase. You're not getting a reward for standing in an 80 minute line, you're standing in a line for 80 minutes to make a purchase. They're different.
Also, as the New York Dolls said: "Well wontcha tell me, those kids are moving so slow. Is it that they just don't have a place to go?"

Anonymous said...

10:03, Re: Blue Ribbon, YES, I know what you're talking about. I have to walk by there often but I do so ONLY on the Jupiter-side of the street to avoid the blast of disgusting grease air. It's disgusting!

Anonymous said...

That must be really good chicken, for such a long line to form. I'll have to try it.

Anonymous said...

An East Villager goes to the doctor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bewKPi9gdT4

Anonymous said...

Are these people all out of their f'ing minds? 1.5 hours for that terrible looking sandwich. WTF is wrong with everyone? My Sunday morning has already consisted of, I don't know, about 15 stupid stories online and this is the stupidest yet, which says a lot.

FUKU2 said...

Nobody has mentioned the possibility that the restaurant management hired shills to stand in line to whip up publicity for their fried chicken FUKU joint, eh?

Kurt said...

@Anon 10:54 PM, Chicken breast? Egg whites? Baking? With Pam?

This is the saddest chicken sandwich ever made.

Anonymous said...

Momofukoo or whatever they are referred to as are over rated. This sandwich looks like something I ate at the cafeteria in grade school or a 99 cent midnight special at KFC. Give me a fucking break, hipsters/mellenials. Bullshit.

1:40 p.m. said...

Liz Flockhead loves places like this one.

As for the commenter who quoted our Ms. Ambassador of NYC...
"Last year, Taylor Swift somewhat boringly testified that not only are “Haters gonna hate,” they’re gonna “hate hate hate” exponentially, presumably in direct proportion to her lack of culpability. Instead of serving the establishment (monotheism, patriarchal energies), the modern tautophrase empowers the individual. Regardless of how shallow that individual is."

How ‘You Do You’ Perfectly Captures Our Narcissistic Culture.

rnh said...

Perhaps somewhere in the world there is a chicken sandwich worth a wait of 1:20. This is not it. May God Be My Witness. B+.