Greetings from Philadelphia! There is a restaurant in Philly (https://www.irwinsupstairs.com/) which sells a roast agrodolce 1/2 chicken dish for $60. This is a standard roast chicken dish, no truffles or caviar etc that would explain the pricing.
On the Philly food sub we are thinking that this may be the most expensive half chicken dish in the country. I checked a few usual suspects' menus(The Grill, Carbone, etc) and none of those places have 1/2 chicken dishes that break $60.
So is there a restaurant in NYC with a more expensive chicken dish?
For the curious the chicken at Irwins is good but not as good as places priced much lower such as Vernick in Philly or Barbuto or Raf's in NYC.
by nemesisinphilly
10 Comments
I remember going to a place that had PB&J for $100 on the menu.
But that was a joke.
Chez Fifi does a $78 half chicken (or $160 for the whole thing). It comes with potatoes and salad and “foie gras jus”, but apparently no actual foie gras to justify that price.
Not a roast chicken but David Chang’s weird fantasy of a whole fried chicken and caviar can still be ordered at Momofuku ($600)
Sailors half roast chicken is $36
Da Toscana has a garlic butter chicken for $38
Le crocodiles roast chicken $44
Locanda verdes whole roast chicken is $78, don’t think any in the city trumps that
Edit: completely forgot about King – half grilled chicken for $82
Forgione has a $70 roast chicken (chicken under brick) and it’s phenomenal
Chicken Festival
Not a 1/2 chicken but Maison Barnes has a chicken-lobster for $250…
https://www.maisonbarnes-newyork.com/our-menu/maison-barnes
> POULET HOMARDINE, “The CHOBSTER “ duo of roasted sasso chicken and lobster, sauce nantua, wild rice
In January ILIS in Brooklyn was doing a half-chicken (with pickles and a bowl of soup) for $75. Might still be. That was [their “more affordable” way to visit.](https://greenpointers.com/2025/01/13/greenpoints-ilis-offering-chicken-suppers-on-sundays-in-january/)
Is it a special bird, like Bresse? With the blue feet.
Sasso is also nice, but that is not imported.
The most famous roast chicken on the west coast is Zuni Cafe, which does a whole bird for $75. Salt and herb cured for a day or more, roasted in a brick firewood oven.
So the place you mentioned is claiming to be twice as good.
We used to have Le Coq Rico, which had super expensive/fancy rotisserie chicken, but it closed a while ago.
You can see the menu here, with prices (and this is from around 2016!) [Le Coq Rico menu](https://images.nymag.com/images/2/daily/2016/03/le-coq-rico.pdf?_gl=1*4v8ujq*FPAU*MTExOTU0NzczNS4xNzUyNjM1MDM1*_ga*MTcxMjU3MTk1My4xNzUwNTU4Mzkz*_ga_DNE38RK1HX*czE3NTI2MzUwMzUkbzQkZzEkdDE3NTI2MzUwNTIkajQzJGwwJGg3MDU2MTcwOTc.*_fplc*cUoxMFk3ZVJGOXIyMVQ0blFxJTJCcVcyNSUyRkQxSzE5Z3phemVlbGRLOTBoRlolMkI3cXglMkJueGdnZTJEOXd0dGt0Y21XSkttYThYM2ZkcW1vZWk0S3hVdm8wd3BlSFpLNUsxQ3REeDFzN2ZWT0Y1OCUyQkQlMkI4JTNE)
One white street is doing a half chicken for $64