Samantha Balaban Sam Saleh, John Seymour, and chef He already owns a restaurant on East Eighth Street in Manhattan; now John Seymour is opening a spot at North Eighth Street in Brooklyn.
Next Tuesday, Mr. Seymour will open Sweet Chick, named for the restaurant’s signature dish: fried chicken and your choice of bacon and cheddar, or rosemary and mushroom waffles. (See the dinner, dessert and cocktail menus below.)
Mr. Seymour opened Pop’s of Brooklyn a year ago, on East Eighth Street, between Greene Street and University Place. He met his partner in Sweet Chick, Sam Saleh, after Mr. Saleh opened Organic Planet around the corner from the original Pop’s, in Williamsburg. (Mr. Saleh also owns Swallow Coffee).
Born and bred in Brooklyn, Mr. Seymour and Mr. Saleh say they are committed to friendly, family-run businesses, especially as chain pharmacies and banks take over retail space in the East Village and Williamsburg. “This neighborhood is cool,” said Mr. Saleh. “But it’s about to be ruined by franchises.”
Samantha BalabanSo will Sweet Chick save the neighborhood from ruin? “I wish,” Mr. Saleh laughed.
And how, exactly, did two Brooklyn natives master southern comfort food, anyway? Practice. “I’ve been eating chicken for six months. Five chickens a day,” said Mr. Saleh. “I’m about to turn into a chicken!”
Sweet Chick, 164 Bedford Avenue, at North 8th Street; (347) 725-4793
