The Commodore

"We typically associate The Commodore with late-night fried chicken and meeting strangers we eventually forget existed to begin with. But now you can order a frozen cocktail and a fried chicken sandwich right to your apartment, or stop by their take-out window in Williamsburg while you’re walking your dog. Get a little tipsy and pretend your sofa cushion is a relatively square-shaped stranger, and it’ll essentially be the same experience as the bar (perhaps even better). Check out their website here for more details." - hannah albertine

"The fried chicken at this Williamsburg spot is crispy, juicy, and very hard to put down. Their biscuits are pretty great too. We’re not the only ones who think these things, so you’re going to have to deal with some crowds here. If you come on a weekend, when this place stays open until 2am, expect a lot of drunk people in a small, dark, and packed room. The backyard is even smaller, so don’t pin your hopes on that. Just loosen your definition of personal space, and you’ll be fine." - willa moore, will hartman, neha talreja, bryan kim

"Hanging out outside The Commodore, on the corner of Havemeyer and Metropolitan in Williamsburg, is one of the great ways to spend a summer night in the city. Want to make it better? Grab an order of the bar's Southern-style fried chicken. It’s everything you want out of this genre of fried fowl. Full of pickle-brined salty goodness, and worth scraping up the roof of your mouth, it pairs very well with a frozen cocktail. The Commodore’s second location in the East Village has the same fried chicken, but no outdoor seating." - will hartman, willa moore, molly fitzpatrick

"The Commodore has been a Williamsburg destination for over a decade, its corner cocktail bar near the BQE, featuring a pair of kitschy dining rooms, and a backyard. Chicken sandwiches topped with coleslaw and pickles — the breast filet sticking way beyond the bun — have long been a staple, and there’s a chicken dinner on the menu, too. The Commodore recently expanded to the East Village, too." - Robert Sietsema

"I made a pact with my arteries the other day. Basically, we agreed that I would eat nothing but steel cut oats and raw carrots for the next six months to atone for what I did to them at The Commodore. In return, they agreed to let me off the hook for putting butter on my fried chicken. In case you aren’t already familiar, The Commodore is a Williamsburg restaurant by Pies ‘n’ Thighs alum Stephen Tanner, and it’s bad for you. Bad because merely looking at the food here will jack up your cholesterol thirty points, and worse because everything is so good that you’ll crave it all the time. Eventually you too will be cutting imaginary deals with your organs to justify frequent visits. But before you ask the bartender to crush up some Lipitor into your frozen drink, there are a few drawbacks you should be aware of. First of all, this place can be a shit show in the absolute worst way. After 9pm it turns into pretty much the worst bar ever, packed with people who probably moved to Williamsburg because they heard about it on Two Broke Girls. Even if you’re there early, ordering food can be kind of a pain in the ass, and finding somewhere in the place to eat it is another challenge entirely. There is no hostess and there are no waiters, so basically you order from a window and then it’s a free for all between you and all of Brooklyn for one of the few tables. We ate our food off a Pac Man machine last time we were here. The good news is that none of it will bother you too much, assuming your main goal is to eat some excellent fried chicken and suck back a few Commodores (piña colada with an amaretto float) while you wait. Those things are dangerous. So much so that I have now entered into negotiations with my liver. Let’s make a deal. Food Rundown Fried Chicken Three thighs and a few tiny biscuits make up one of the best plates of fried chicken we’ve ever had. This is crispy, juicy and impossible to put down. Caddilac Nachos These are indeed the Caddilac of nachos, with such luxurious features as cheese sauce, crema, and three different salsas. Order them. Hot Breast Sandwich A fried chicken breast sandwich with a great name, even though instead of a “hot breast” we ordered it “medium” in fear of overstimulation. A nice sandwich, but this pales in comparison to that plate of thighs. The Commodore Cocktail As previously mentioned, this is a pina colada with an amaretto float. Heart medicine add in is optional." - Chris Stang