Sarah Sanneh on Pies ‘n’ Thighs’ Park Slope Debut and 20 Years of Success
The beloved restaurant opens April 1st with their best-sellers, a new kids’ menu, and the same familiar charm as the original locations
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Pies ‘n’ Thighs, and what better way to celebrate than by opening a second location! I sat down in the new space with Sarah Sanneh, owner of Pies ‘n’ Thighs, to slice into what the local Park Slope community can expect from the upcoming opening and how far the restaurant has come from the dive bar where it was born.
“We opened in the back of a dive bar on S 5th & Kent, and there was absolutely nothing there,” says Sanneh. “One of my favorite pictures from the time is of our dishwasher smoking pork butts in this offset smoker that we had in the yard…which was entirely not allowed, but made the most delicious pork.” The bar was situated on a deserted street with a burnt-out car nearby, a much more industrial Williamsburg than we know today.
“So I think from that, to what Pies is now in Williamsburg, which is a neighborhood restaurant, to this, it feels like we’ve sort of grown up along the way. I certainly have,” says Sanneh. She was 24 years old when she quit her full-time job to open the original Pies ‘n’ Thighs, so this leap of faith has become her entire career.
The menu has also evolved, growing to include more items and taking into account how people eat today. Sanneh explains that when they first opened, they would sometimes just serve whatever they felt like making that day. Now, they have staples on the menu like their fried chicken, buttermilk biscuits, and a variety of pies, and ones that might not be top of mind yet happen to be top-sellers, like the Hippie Banjo, made with organic fried egg, cheddar, avocado, sprouts & tomato on homemade anadama bread, and the Green Goddess Roast Chicken.
“A lot of our food, in my mind, tastes like the platonic ideal. This biscuit is exactly what I hoped a biscuit would taste like. And of course, honey butter doesn’t hurt.”
When I asked Sanneh what she attributes to the success of Pies ‘n’ Thighs after 20 years, she jokingly (or not-so-jokingly) says stubbornness, but then follows it up with, “We appeal to a huge variety of people, and so I think there’s something for everyone. We’re always really proud of our dining room. It’ll be the FedEx guy next to a family of four celebrating a birthday next to a hipster who’s recording across the street.” She credited the restaurant’s broad appeal for protecting it against trends, while also striving to exceed guest expectations. “We’re a place that specializes in fried chicken, but we’re also a bakery, and we’re also a scratch kitchen,” adds Sanneh. “We take a ton of time and pride in what we do, and often when people dine with us, there’s an element of surprise.”
And we can’t talk about the success of Pies ‘n’ Thighs without acknowledging the customer favorites. Sanneh asserts with confidence, “It’s a great recipe for starters. We use a very aggressive brine for the fried chicken, and it’s brined for 24 hours.” She spoke to the simplicity of the recipe, detailing that the chicken is only tossed in flour and then fried, creating crispy bits, while still keeping it really light.
“I’m a pastry chef, so the biscuits, they’re my personal pride and joy,” Sanneh says enthusiastically. “We’ve had the same recipe since we opened.” Previously the Pastry Chef at Diner, Sanneh used the same recipe there. And just like the fried chicken, it’s a simple recipe. She explains the key to the biscuit’s extra-flaky layers is the technique of incorporating the butter, keeping it soft on the inside and crispy on the outside, plus there’s a lot of tang from the buttermilk. “I think there’s something really satisfying about it having these flaky layers you can peel apart, and it’s also substantial enough to hold a sandwich,” states Sanneh. “A lot of our food, in my mind, tastes like the platonic ideal. This biscuit is exactly what I hoped a biscuit would taste like. And of course, honey butter doesn’t hurt.” I think we can all agree on that!
As Sanneh spoke about the recipes, it led to a great story involving the one and only Guy Fieri! “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” came in to cover the original location, and Fieri was very involved in the entire process. At the time, the restaurant was putting all the chicken on a sheet pan, sprinkling on the seasoning, believing this would make it stick better to the skin, and then putting it in a salt-and-sugar brine. His reaction to this process? “What…? This is not how you brine chicken. Why are you making this so hard?! Just put the spices in the brine.” This was 14 years ago. “He literally changed the recipe that day, which is so funny,” says Sanneh. “We never went back. I think it would taste the same, but it was an enormous pain in the ass. So our labor would have been higher over those years.”
Looking beyond the top-selling menu items that have received accolades from major media outlets, like Food & Wine and The New York Times, and the queen herself, Martha Stewart, I was curious about some underrated items that people should order more often. “The burnt end baked beans,” Sanneh answers with a smile. “I don’t know if they’re underrated, but I just think they’re exceptional - sweet, smoky, and a little bit spicy. My kids love them.”
And what’s one menu item she can’t live without? The homemade cornbread! “We griddle it on the cut side with butter,” says Sanneh. “It’s like a New York-style griddled corn muffin. The best part is peeling off the sheet of the really toasted, really buttery edge.” To my surprise, the roasted broccoli was another item she mentioned because it complements so many other dishes, such as the chicken breast or tenders, grits + eggs, or even making them into broccoli melts on their anadama bread.
“Since we make everything in-house, we really wanted to showcase that,” Sanneh says excitedly. “When I go someplace and order a taco, and they’re rolling out the masa right in front of me, it’s so fun. It feels like the best trend now.”
All of these best-sellers and underdog items will be offered on the Park Slope menu, along with a few new additions such as their crispy, juicy chicken tenders, which launched not that long ago in Williamsburg after much trial and error, a chicken tenders sandwich, and a new kids’ menu in the form of a cute placemat.
The location itself will also have its own charm. Previously home to Chef Eric Huang’s Pecking House, the interior has gone through some changes to maximize seating and allow for food prep to be transformed into entertainment for guests. Unlike the Williamsburg location, where everything is prepared in the basement, this location will have a dining floor experience, where guests get to see biscuits being rolled out, chicken being seasoned and fried to a perfect golden brown, and pies being handmade from scratch. “Since we make everything in-house, we really wanted to showcase that,” Sanneh says excitedly. “When I go someplace and order a taco, and they’re rolling out the masa right in front of me, it’s so fun. It feels like the best trend now.”
The decor in the new space will also have its own personality. While the Williamsburg restaurant has a more DIY vibe, the Park Slope location is a bit more structured, yet still encompasses the personal touches you’d expect to see at Pies ‘n’ Thighs. Sanneh’s mom, Cheryl, is a ceramicist, so she made the shades for the pendants along the bar, as well as a few sconces, a ceramic Coors Light sign that’ll be a sconce and lit from behind, and some ceramic pies that she went rogue to create (“You just have to let her be Cheryl!” - Sanneh). “To me, it’s such a funny symbol of Pies because it’s handmade, it’s sort of funny, it also takes a lot of skill, and it’s something that will make the place feel like Pies – having a quirky little piece of art from my mom on the wall,” says Sanneh. There will also be a picture hanging from the Rock Star Bar bathroom, their original dive bar space, and other nods to their long history.
While Sanneh is already a part of the Park Slope community, having co-founded the popular Heaps Ice Cream on 7th Avenue with Matt Lieber, she’s excited to expand this connection, creating another space that’s familiar, accessible, and open day or night - a true neighborhood gem that people can keep coming back to for years to come.
Pies ‘n’ Thighs opens in Park Slope on Wednesday, April 1st, and is located at 244 Flatbush Ave (at 6th Ave), Brooklyn, NY 11217 (1 block from Barclays Center)