Pecking House, the Pop-Up With a 10,000-Person Waitlist, Spreads Its Fried Wings

You’ve run your pop-up from four restaurants in three boroughs. How’d you settle on Park Slope?

It was a hell of a journey. It took us forever to find a space. It was the fourth place we negotiated, and it needed a lot of work. I’m not a very seasoned Brooklyn resident. I’ve only been living here for about two years, but this corner felt great. We’re right on the Flatbush artery next to Barclays Center. There are a lot of restaurants popping up here.

Pecking House started as a takeout and delivery business. What’s the vibe here?

It’s going to be counter-service with takeout and delivery, but I don’t see this ever becoming a Chipotle or a Shake Shack. We want to keep this a neighborhood spot. If there’s lines, that’s great, but it’s pretty humble. I mean the fried chicken comes on a paper plate. It isn’t very serious — but also, it is. The space is a bit more polished and the food has a ton of thought and training behind it, even if it doesn’t look that way.

There’s a giant concrete chicken on that wall.

That’s right. The concrete was poured wet, and then we had someone free-hand draw a chicken in it. [Editor’s note:  According to Ferrante, the big clucker is meant to evoke the Pecking House brand without having those words written all over the business “like other fast-casual restaurants.”]

Is there anything on the menu that we haven’t seen at the pop-ups?

The fries with roast chicken salt have never seen the light of day. We dehydrate onions and use bouillon powder and vinegar powder, and then we season them up. You can get sauces separately. Our “Alabama white” barbecue sauce is basically horseradish mayo: We add white truffle pate and white truffle oil to it, then season it with horseradish juice and lemon ($8).

Wait, didn’t the combo meal used to come with three pieces of chicken and three sides?

I was cooking this three piece-three side thing forever, and then I actually sat down and ate one around six months after we started. I was like, “Holy shit. This is a lot of food.” Now that we have our permanent home, two pieces and one side is going to be the standard. It’s the right amount of food to not leave you feeling like total shit after.

The fried chicken comes in three flavors — “naked,” salted egg yolk, and the chile fried chicken that started it all. What am I ordering?

I have come to really like the naked, almost a little bit more than my first child. We started it because there are people out there who can’t handle spice. I don’t think our chicken is super spicy, but there’s some people who literally can’t handle any. It’s dusted with a little bit of our five spice blend, salt, and vinegar powder. [Editor’s note: The three flavors cost the same, but mixing them in a single combo meal won’t be allowed.]

One more thing: How much chicken are you making on opening day?

I’m not really sure. We’ve been working with one to two fryers for forever now, but here we have three fryers. It’s the most we’ve ever had, so that definitely makes things easier. I think we’ll start with 100 to 120 orders as we usually do. We’ll see how that goes.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.