Birdcode Hot Chicken plans Darien location
Birdcode Hot Chicken, West Hartford’s first restaurant dedicated to the spicy Nashville specialty, plans a Fairfield County location in Darien later this year.
The restaurant will open at 151 Post Road in Darien, on the Norwalk border, said owners Brandi and Phil Killoran. They’re hoping to debut the second location this fall.
The Killorans, who formerly owned several Connecticut Ben & Jerry’s franchises, first opened the West Hartford Birdcode location in November with a menu of chicken tenders and sandwiches in five escalating spice levels. After receiving positive reception and feedback from customers there, they began looking for potential future locations in the Norwalk area, ultimately settling on the Post Road space.
Phil Killoran said the new restaurant, in a former bank building, has a double drive-through service option. The building is larger than its West Hartford counterpart, which will allow Birdcode to add more COVID protocol-friendly pickup options.
“We’re going to have a little bit bigger brand presence, which is absolutely key to us,” he said. “That location is sandwiched between the two [I-95] entrance and exits, and there is a lot of traffic on the road.”
The menu in Darien will mirror the West Hartford original, Brandi said.
Tenders are served with bread and pickles, and sandwiches are built on brioche buns topped with vinegar slaw, pickles and mayonnaise-based “comeback sauce.”
There’s also a kale salad option with tenders, and a “Naughty Neighbor,” featuring tenders on a bed of fries with vinegar slaw, pickles and sauce.
Sides include fries, mac and cheese and slaw. Desserts, all made in-house, include banana pudding and chocolate chip cookies. The West Hartford location serves beer and wine, and the Killorans intend to do the same in Darien.
Birdcode’s spice levels start at the no-heat “country” level, and increase incrementally: mild with a “touch of heat,” medium “proceed with caution”; hot “burn baby burn” and the top-level Code Breaker, with a warning: “Do you really want to do this? Eat at your own risk.”
The Darien restaurant will focus more on takeout and outdoor seating, Brandi said. In addition to the drive-through, the Killorans are looking at “automat” style food lockers, where guests can grab their order from a designated space using a PIN or QR code.
“It gives consumers in that community [opportunity] to pick up our product in different ways, ways that make them feel comfortable in a difficult time,” Phil said.
The Darien Birdcode will also offer delivery, which has been a large factor in its West Hartford sales.
Dedicated Nashville hot chicken restaurants have made inroads in Connecticut over the past year. Howling Hot Chicken debuted in Bridgeport on Feb. 15, following the fall openings of Birdcode’s original restaurant, Haven Hot Chicken in New Haven, and Fowl Play at the Parkville Market food hall in Hartford.