Coqodaq

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

The $38 meal comes with two rounds of chicken, a cup of consommé, a cold noodle dish, banchan borrowed from Cote, and tangy frozen yogurt. The small plates aren’t particularly memorable, but the chicken is exciting enough on its own. The first round—their signature, sauceless bone-in chicken—comes with four condiments in cute little squeeze bottles. Despite being GMO-free, it looks buff enough to have OD’d on steroids, and is dense enough to sink your teeth all the way in, to the top of your gums. For your second serving, choose between the fiery gochujang or sticky-sweet soy garlic glaze. We’re partial to the soy-garlic. The gochujang tastes one-note compared to the spicy flavor at more traditional Korean chicken joints. And one of the squeeze bottles has a gochujang BBQ sauce in it that packs more punch.

photo credit: Kate Previte

Mac and Cheese

Side dishes cost extra, and if your group is super hungry, one or two will complete the meal. Out of the four options, the mac is the best—creamy, and cheesy, with a chili oil kick.

photo credit: Kate Previte

Spicy Tteokbokki

The Korean chili pepper flavor in these isn’t quite as pungent as the stuff you get at a traditional Korean restaurant or bar, but the chewy rice cakes are still a decent option if you want to get a second side. (The other two, a coleslaw and french fries, are meh.)

photo credit: Kate Previte

The Golden Nugget

There are two types of Golden Nugget. The 24 Karat, topped with Golden Daurenki caviar, is $28. Yes, you only get one per order. The photo opp is kind of the point, so for that, you should probably just get the caviar. But if you’re cheap like us, there’s another $16 option topped with trout roe instead of caviar, and it’s pretty tasty.

photo credit: Kate Previte

Chicken and Curry

If you’re at Coqodaq, you’re getting the fried chicken. But just in case you have different dietary needs than the rest of the group, this is a perfectly satisfying plate of slightly spicy chicken curry.