NYCReview
photo credit: Kate Previte
Coqodaq
Included In
On paper, we should hate Coqodaq. The Korean fried chicken restaurant serves drumsticks in silver buckets. They sell baby bottles of champagne, and a single “golden nugget” with caviar on top for $28.
But it’s not as obnoxious as it sounds—mostly because it’s not as expensive as that nugget implies. For a group dinner that comes out to $60-$70 per person (if you get drinks and extra sides), eating fancy fried chicken in what is essentially a poultry-themed nightclub, is an exhilarating way to celebrate the weekend.
photo credit: Kate Previte
Coqodaq is from the people behind Cote, the sceney Korean steakhouse down the street in Flatiron. Like Cote's Butcher’s Feast, the most popular, and most economical, way to eat here is to order The Bucket List, their pre-set meal. At $38 a head, it’s a pretty good deal for about half-a-chicken per person, banchan, a cold noodle dish, and dessert—and it saves you the chaos that comes with group dinners. (The rice flour-crusted chicken is also gluten-free.)
photo credit: Kate Previte
photo credit: Kate Previte
photo credit: Kate Previte
photo credit: Kate Previte
photo credit: Kate Previte
After stopping by a hand-washing station that resembles a club bathroom (and has eight different luxury soaps, for some reason), people fill up two rows of roomy booths, under a tunnel of golden arches that look like they go to infinity and beyond. A carefully choreographed meal commences. Diners love-tap their caviar nuggets and clink their oolong cocktails. Servers seamlessly switch out platters of chicken—and seem trained to delay every action by 10 seconds, long enough for you to pull up your camera app.
photo credit: Kate Previte
photo credit: Kate Previte
photo credit: Kate Previte
photo credit: Kate Previte
For now, reservations are impossible, and walk-ins usually end up at the decidedly less glamorous high-tops and bar. Eventually, Coqodaq will reach the point in its life cycle where it becomes the go-to spot for 25th birthdays and swanky corporate buy-outs. It will surely be replicated in Miami and Vegas. Until then, we’ll be back for another high-octane, chicken-fueled night with three of our most fun friends.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Kate Previte
The Bucket List
photo credit: Kate Previte
Mac and Cheese
photo credit: Kate Previte
Spicy Tteokbokki
photo credit: Kate Previte
The Golden Nugget
photo credit: Kate Previte
Chicken and Curry