About Last Night: Kensington Quarters Fried Chicken Pop-Up

Though Kensington Quarters–Fishtown’s up and coming pasture-based butcher shop and eatery–is still mired in construction, the first glimpse of the food at their series of three Fried Chicken Pop-Ups was a great one.

Owners Michael Pasquarello and Bryan Mayer purchased a few hundred chickens as chicks when they were planning a January opening (back before they found out they needed a new roof to support the weight of the compressors for their refrigeration), and an Amish farmer in Lancaster county raised them to order. But when Pasquarello and Mayer found out that there was no way the shop would be open when the birds were ready, they didn’t want to back out. Thus, their fried chicken pop-up series was born.

The local birds, fried in rendered pasture-raised beef fat, had an unmistakably savory flavor and, well, beefiness. Served with lemony thyme drop biscuits, potato-parsnip mash and both hot and mild sauces, it was something of a carb-fest, but you couldn’t really find fault with it. In fact, one of the sides almost stole the show. The pork and beans by newly-named chef Damon Menapace (a Vetri alum) were richly-flavored and meaty without being greasy.

So if this is the direction that Kensington Quarters is going, we can’t wait to see more.

Kensington Quarters [f8b8z]