The Coop Restaurant ☆ Bar

The Coop Restaurant ☆ Bar’s June 2015 arrival raised Downtown Flushing’s Korean fried chicken game up a couple of notches.* Back in 2007, you used to have to trek over to Northern Boulevard for some double-fried, crispy golden goodness.** In 2015, you can simply hop off the last 7 Train stop and walk five minutes to enjoy all the crispy goodness your grubby fingers can handle.

Interior during opening weekend.

Coop’s pricing is steeper than nearby downtown lounges and bars. In exchange, your party upgrades from dive-bar settings to a more contemporary, industrial vibe.

Steel pipes and lighting fixtures adorn the color scheme of warm woods and matte black walls. Waiters and waitresses greet your party as soon as you enter.

Flushing Food ensemble walking up the front steps.

If you opt for bar seating, you may notice The Coop’s overhead reminder to “EAT/DRINK/ENJOY.” The shared One Fulton Square balcony out back also provides a more secluded fresh air alternative to the front entrance sidewalk.

The final dose of ambience comes from the projection screen wall. After your eyes adjust to the lighting, you may notice that there are façade-rivets separating the separate projection wall pieces.

Industrial-chic enough for ya?

Flushing Food started off with $12.00 (for two) slider with fries. While we enjoyed the both the beef (bulgogi, or 슬라이더와 감자튀침 새트) and spicy pork belly (매운 삼겹살) slider options, our favorite was actually the potato fries (감자튀김). The skins were perfectly blistered and seasoned, with each bite yielding flavorful potato with minimal grease:

Slider with fries.

Onto chicken. The seasonings on our $23 large-size half-and-half platter were what we'd come to expect of KFC: double-fried, perfectly-battered chicken. This order combined Coop’s two offerings of soy garlic and spicy. The soy garlic was sweet and slightly tangy, and the spicy was slow-burning spicy: 

The goods. Soy garlic on the left (lighter color), and spicy on the right.

May Flushing Food suggest: trying a refreshing $29 pitcher of strawberry maekgeolli cocktail. For something more extreme, give the $25 gopchang gui a go. The head chef specializes in this (very traditional—dare you to Google® up the key ingredient!) dish. 

Bonus: I Love Dance grand opening weekend rendition of 2014 YG Entertainment “Good Boy”, a collaboration between Big Bang’s G-Dragon and Taeyang.

* Interchangeably, “The Coop Express”. Whatever you call the place, it’s at 133-42 39^th Ave #103, Flushing, NY 11354.

** Some examples include Debasaki, Kono (formerly Kyedong), KyoChon, and Mad for Chicken. And of course, NYC’s original KFC superstar: Bon Chon (The Midtown, Financial District, and Bayside, Queens locations).

Media credits: Helen Y.

Gadget: Nikon® Coolpix™ AW110

Software: Fotor and Imgflip