Pies and Thighs

Isn't this a gorgeous sight? There aren't many places that I know of with good fried chicken under ten bucks. Charles' Chicken in Harlem is my favorite in the city, and luckily it's far from my apartment, so I haven't been up there in a long while. Closer to home, I love me some Mama's fried chicken with their cream drenched mashed potatoes. But it's the combination of the chicken and biscuit that I miss from growing up in the South. That's why I've been dying to try, Pies and Thighs. The NYTimes reviewed it a couple of weeks ago, but every time I've tried to go there (next to the Williamsburg Bridge at S.5th St. & Kent Ave.), Sunday after 4, it's been closed. So I smartened up and dragged Josh over there for an early Saturday supper.
As you can see, the fried chicken box ($8 including biscuit and side!) was 2 big pieces, one white, one dark, then a little wing tucked in the back of the basket. If you get it to go, you get a box. The meat was piping hot fresh from the fryer with a couple of shakes of tabasco on top. Nice crispy skin, not too much coating, but just enough to be satisfying. The white meat was amazingly juicy and I gave Josh my dark meat, so I could get half of his pulled pork sandwich, but I'm sure it was delicious.
And the biscuit! That biscuit was super buttery and hugely fluffy without being overly doughy. It was crispy on the outside, not hard like a hockey puck.
the only thing missing was honey to drizzle over the biscuit, but I didn't think about it until later. I was too excited.
Even though it took me three outings to finally eat here (They close when they run out of food?), it was sooo much better than my 2 attempts and final tasting of the much anticipated Dirty Bird, the organic fried chicken joint on 14th St. bw 7th & 8th. I should try it again because I've heard it's gotten better, but when I know that Pies and Thighs is so damn good, why would I go to a place that has good ideals, but the food is mediocre?

One of my problems with Dirty Bird is I didn't crave any of their sides. Corn bread, maybe, dirty rice, no. They have some other stuff, but not that much. When I eat chicken and biscuits, I want collards. And collards I had at Pies and Thighs!
The greens were delicious, flavored with a bit of the pulled pork that was cooking in the smoker in the concrete garden we were sitting in. Josh's pulled pork was quite good as well. Smokey and quite spicy with a vinegar based sauce. The bun melted under the sauce and the heft of the chopped coleslaw, but it seemed more homey with that wonder bread kind of bun. We shared his huge side order of potato salad. Mayo, mustard, dill, little red potatoes, and the same yummy pickles that topped the sandwich were sprinkled in the excellent salad.
Oh yeah, we splurged on the key lime pie. It was good, but was a little too fresh, it was still warm! It was still good, but creamier than tangy.