Life Changing.

There are some foods that I've had that have been life changing, will forever have a special place in my heart and something I day dream about. Some examples include: my dad's steak, my mom's cheesecake, Ippudo ramen and pork belly buns, Al's Italian beef in Chicago and now Pies 'N Thighs fried chicken that I had last weekend. I only took one Instagram picture that you can see below, but that's because I was too busy eating.

My friend and I took a little pilgrimage to Brooklyn because we were both craving fried chicken (ultimate fat girl cravings if I do say so myself). She had done some research beforehand and Pies 'N Thighs had popped up for great fried chicken. After a long night of drinking, we decided some chicken would be perfect to soak up our alcohol the next day and hopefully cure our hangovers. Everything looked great on the menu. We both really couldn't decide (breakfast looked good too), but since we had both been craving fried chicken, we both went for the chicken box. My side was breakfast potatoes (carb overload) and my friend got the cheese grits.

We waited a little while, but I felt like that was a good sign and we weren't eating already fried chicken. And holy moly was the wait worth it, our hangovers were the least of our worries. The chicken was piping hot, but when I finally could get a bite in I couldn't stop. The batter is perfect and has a great crunch and then the chicken inside is perfectly tender and juicy. Seriously, once you take your first bite, you can't stop. I've never had fried chicken with the outside so perfect and the inside so juicy. The dish also came with a beautiful, large, flaky biscuit. Next time I want to get a side of gravy to dip the biscuit in (I saw others doing that and instantly got jealous).

This is a restaurant you come to indulge. Those on "diets," you should proceed with caution or avoid totally. Everyone around us was eating large amounts of food. Even people in exercise clothing were ordering the chicken box and chicken and waffles! A man in work out gear was the one pouring gravy over his biscuit and chicken! It's truly a restaurant to indulge yourself and totally be fine with it.

Obviously we ordered a pie even after polishing our plates clean. We just had to. We couldn't decide because all the pies sounded delicious, so we asked our waitress for some advice. Some pies she described as a little heavy, a little too sweet, but when she described the Smore's pie, it sounded absolutely perfect for being so full... and it was. Perfect fluffy (homemade) marshmallow on top, not-too-sweet chocolate filling and great graham cracker crust. The prices are great and you leave perfectly full and your life may even have been changed like mine :).

Naked Balls.

I get really excited to go to restaurants that I have been eyeing for a long time. Crossing The Meatball Shop from my wishlist of restaurants to eat at was very satisfying. It's a trendy, relatively new restaurant with a fun concept. My friend and I walked down to the Lower East Side location expecting a long wait, but it ended up only being 30 minutes instead of the usual 1-2 hours. I love that they text you when your table is ready, so you can go elsewhere for a drink or walk around until your table is ready. Luckily, LES is surrounded by bars to easily pass the time.

The hardest decision I have had to make this weekend was picking what to eat. There are many choices of meatballs and sauces. Then from the naked balls (your choice of 4 balls, sauce), to heroes (3 balls, sauce, cheese on a baguette), to salads, to sliders. There is so much to choose from! I knew I wanted the spicy pork meatballs with classic tomato sauce, but in what combination, I wasn't sure. My friend and I decided to get our own meatballs but get risotto and mashed potato as sides to share. You can get the meatballs over the sides, but since my friend and I were sharing, we decided to keep it separate.

The meatballs were great. Melts in your mouth, but flavorful at the same time. I wanted to try the spicy meat sauce for sauce, but since I was getting the spicy pork meatballs, I didn't want to mask all the flavors with too much spice. The mashed potatoes are seriously to die for and mixing the sides with the meatball is a fat kid loving experience. It was definitely carbo-load, but very worth it. I have 2 meatballs to bring to lunch tomorrow :).

I heard a lot of good things about the ice cream sandwiches, so we ordered a brownie and chocolate chip cookie with caramel ice cream. The ice cream was delicious, but the cookies were rock hard. Especially with ice cream, I was expecting a soft cookie for freshness and easy to scoop, but the cookies were so hard! We were trying to scoop up and break the cookie and the cookie would fly everywhere! I'm not sure if that is how they usually are, but I definitely prefer a Coolhaus ice cream sandwich.




Love the table set up. The menus are like whiteboards and you check what you want.


Naked balls.


Our sides. Risotto and mashed potatoes.


Ice cream sandwich dessert (sorry, bad image!)

The atmosphere is dark and intimate and I really enjoyed the service. Our waitress was very attentive and helpful. The prices are affordable which is always a great plus for a trendy, cute restaurant. I will definitely be going back to try all the different meatball/sauce combinations, a great experience!