That. I tried their chicken last night and it is definitely smoked ( prolly cold smoked so it gets some smoke flavor but doesn’t cook). The verdict - well, the chicken is good but not as good as At The Table a few blocks over. The sides of potato salad and mac n cheese were mediocre. All in all, not worth $32 plus tax n tip for 6 pieces of fried chicken and two sides.
Mediocre seemed to be the operative word. The hush puppies, shrimp toast(?), soup, salad, and desserts were all meh.
So, unless you just have to have a cocktail with dinner, it’s a no-brainer, for real southern food I will stick with At The Table.
I read the article @CurlzNJ posted and it seems their happy hour whole chicken is 40 dollars with a drink of champagne. That better be some damn good champagne! I still think the half bird at local smoke is a great deal for flavor and value.
Does anyone know what the double brine is for? I will search Google but for now…
“The pasture-raised, all-natural chickens from Fossil Farms in Boonton are butchered, brined in a buttermilk-pickle juice mix, cold smoked at 150 degrees, brined again, then floured with a “shake method.” Some of the brine is mixed with the flour and shaken in a bag, all to make those big crunchy pieces when fried, Meerpohl explains.”
We had a late lunch here on Saturday after the baby and I roamed the beach while my husband surfed. The space is gorgeous. Decorated perfectly in Art Deco. The bar and the vault are super cool. The place was nearly empty. Granted it wasn’t prime time, but there were only a handful of other tables. They run a special of ‘champagne’ cocktails (FYI, not champagne) for $4. Tasty. I’m not sure if this is part of brunch or a regular thing but an order of fried dough covered in powered sugar came out (I am completely blanking on the name) as a appetizer. Good, but fits squarely in the dessert category for me.
For lunch we split biscuit with egg, ham and cheese and a 1/2 chicken, collard greens and a biscuit. The annoying part was the sandwich was cold and obviously sitting out while the chicken finished frying. The place was not busy! And also, it took at least 45 minutes to get our food. Again, nearly nobody in the place. The fried chicken was awesome, biscuits were tasty, light and flakey and the collard greens were interesting. Creamy, a little spicy actually.
I’m torn on this place. The space is gorgeous and I would absolutely go back for drinks, but this kind of food is so heavy to me. I can’t eat it regularly.
Ha! The heaviness of the menu is one of the main reasons I haven’t been yet… That’s just not my style of eating, while I’d gladly plow through the whole list at Reyla.
Your report echoes others that I’ve heard from friends in the area… Some dishes are terrific, some don’t hit the mark, the service was fabulous, the service was terrible,… That frustrates the hell out of me at any restaurant.
I’m with you on Reyla’s. I love that place. I would recommend Modine for snacks and drinks (then having salad for dinner haha). It is beautiful. We were there on a sunny day and the entire restaurant was glowing.
