Insanely popular southern comfort BBQ restaurant Pies 'N' Thighs is in trouble with the Community Board that oversees Williamsburg. The restaurant is currently up for a liquor license renewal, but the board is threatening to withhold its recommendation for the license, all because of some benches the owners installed on the front exterior of the restaurant. No food or drink is served on the benches, but the Community Board is playing hardball with the restaurant... because we certainly can't have people sitting outside and talking on the Southside of Williamsburg!
Pies 'N' Thighs Benches: Innocent Resting Spot Or Illegal Rowdy Peace Destroyer?
Midweek Special: NYC Restaurant Review Roundup
"Some restaurants are time machines," writes Times critic Sam Sifton in his perceptive two star review of the elegant "modern French, Asian-accented" restaurant SHO Shaun Hergatt, which opened in 2009 down the block from the New York Stock Exchange. "SHO Shaun Hergatt, the strange and occasionally terrific restaurant on the second floor of a condominium building in the financial district, even looks like one, down to the elevator that whisks you up from the lobby. Diners enter this simple metal box in 2010, talking about the beating Goldman Sachs took in the markets on Friday. They emerge in the late 1990s, Goldman still privately held, the economy booming in a city where restaurants reflected the excess. This calls for Champagne!"
Pies 'N' Thighs Reopens In New Southside Williamsburg Home
The long-building wave of food blog hype has at last reached the shore of South 4th Street in Williamsburg, where the new location of southern comfort BBQ restaurant Pies 'N' Thighs finally opened today. You may recall that back in January 2008, the original location in the shadow of the Williamsburg bridge was shut down by the Health Department for such infractions as an improper pork smoker. (Our headline, "Pies 'n' Thighs Goes Tits Up," elicited some "fun" comments.) After more than two years of preparation and speculation, the P&T team has now opened in their new digs, at the corner of Driggs.
Will Pies 'n' Thighs Open in '09?
It's been forever since Williamsburg's Pies 'n' Thighs moved from their old location to their new South 4th Street digs ... but another entire summer has nearly passed without even a whiff of barbecue. This morning, however, we noticed what looks like an exhaust being installed—and where there's an exhaust, there's a kitchen, and where there's a kitchen there's both pies and thighs! Ergo, meat lovers may be reunited with their old favorite dishes soon enough. We've contacted the owners for comment and will update when we hear back.
Pies 'n' Thighs Moving Forward With New Location
A scrap of news is no replacement for pulled pork, but fervid fans of the defunct Williamsburg DIY barbecue joint Pies ‘n’ Thighs will have to take what they can get. It seems the owners are indeed moving forward with their new location on the corner South 4th Street and Driggs, and there will be another Community Board meeting next month. (Last we heard, owner Sarah Buck had yet to sign the lease.)
Pies 'n' Thighs Eyes New Hole in Wall
There may be satisfaction on the horizon for fans of the southern comfort food dished out at Pies 'n' Thighs, the beloved South Williamsburg hole in the wall that shut down last month. Upon closing, the owners vowed to reopen a “bigger, better, more miraculous hole in the wall!” Eater caught wind of a local Community Board hearing last night, during which the owners' plans to obtain a license for beer and wine was scheduled for review.
Pies 'n' Thighs Goes Tits Up
It's a dark day for South Billyburg lovers of southern comfort food – dark as blackened catfish on a moonless Brooklyn night. Eater points out Peter Meehan's discovery that the beloved hole in the wall Pies 'n' Thighs, in the shadow of the Williamsburg bridge, will close tomorrow night. Party, or wake, to follow.
Camera in the Kitchen: Pies n' Thighs
Some use the phrase "hole in the wall" proverbially, but tucked under the Brooklyn side of the Williamsburg bridge and most easily accessible by bike, the month-old Pies n' Thighs takes it quite literally. During a recent visit, three, including co-owners Steve Tanner and Sarah Buck, stood in the sweltering hot closet-sized kitchen manning the fryer, taking orders, slicing homemade bread, doling out pulled pork, and making fresh lemonade ($2)--somehow all at once. The line, only 4 bodies deep, was already snaking out the door, our necks straining to see the high-hung menu featuring delightfully greasy southern cooking.

