Twelve Options Is the Point, Not the Problem
The chicken section is the longest single food section on the Pier 69 Market menu. Twelve entries, which is more than the burgers, more than the pastas and more than the salads. That is not the kitchen showing off. It is a reflection of what a lot of Bay Ridge actually orders at one in the afternoon.
The catch is that twelve names on a board is hard to parse in the ten seconds you usually give it. People default to whatever they had last time, and never find out that the thing they would have liked more was two lines down. So here is the board grouped the way it makes sense to think about rather than the way it is printed.
Pick the shape first and the filling second. Half the decision is whether you want a hero, a wrap or a bun, and that has more effect on the meal than the sauce does.
Start With the Shape, Not the Name
Nearly every chicken order on the board is the same core idea in a different vehicle. Decide the vehicle and you have cut twelve options down to three or four.
On a Hero
The hero is the most food for the money and the least portable thing on the board. Three entries live here: the Pesto Chicken Cutlet on a Hero, the Chopped Cheese Chicken Hero, which is built as an Italian Mix with chopped onions, peppers and provolone, and the Chicken Parm. If you are eating at a table, this is the column to read. If you are walking somewhere with it, it is not.
The Chopped Cheese Chicken Hero is the interesting one for anyone who grew up on Brooklyn bodega chopped cheese, because the chicken gets chopped in with the vegetables and the provolone instead of sitting in the roll as a whole cutlet. It eats differently from everything else on the board, and it is the messiest order of the twelve by a comfortable margin.
On a Wrap
Two wraps: the Caesar Salad Wrap and The Anytime, which is grilled chicken with avocado, bacon, Swiss, lettuce, tomato and onion. Wraps are the ones to order if the sandwich is going anywhere. They hold together in one hand and survive a walk down to the water in a way a hero does not. If the plan involves the Shore Road promenade or a bench on the 69th Street Pier, order a wrap.
On a Bun or a Roll
This is the widest group and the one where the names stop explaining themselves: the Sriracha Crispy Chicken Cutlet on a Brioche Bun, the Chicken Sandwich, the All American Chick, The Delicious, Chicken Americana and the Spicy Buffalo Chicken Strips. Several of those are listed by name only, with no description printed under them. That is worth knowing before you get to the register, because the fastest way to find out what is in The Delicious is to ask the person making it rather than to guess from the name.
The One You Build Yourself
The Chicken Cutlet with Lettuce, Tomato is the plainest entry and quietly the most flexible, because it comes on a hero, a croissant or a pita with your choice of cheese. It is also one of the two cheapest things on the board. The croissant version is the one nobody thinks to ask for, and it turns a lunch sandwich into something closer to the breakfast sandwich side of the counter.
Breaded or Grilled
The word to watch for is cutlet. A cutlet is breaded, which is the texture most of this board is built around. The clear grilled option is The Anytime, where grilled chicken is the stated build alongside the avocado and the bacon.
Beyond those two signals the board does not label every entry, so if breaded against grilled is the thing that decides your order, ask at the counter or call (718) 777-6969 on the way over. It is a ten-second question and the most common thing people get wrong ordering chicken somewhere new.
Where the Heat Is
Two entries carry the spice, and they are not two amounts of the same thing. The Spicy Buffalo Chicken Strips take the buffalo route, which is vinegar-forward and sharp. The Sriracha Crispy Chicken Cutlet on a Brioche Bun takes the sriracha route, which runs sweeter and more garlic-heavy behind the heat.
Choose by the flavor you want rather than by which sounds hotter. If you are ordering for a group and someone does not do spice at all, either one swaps out for the plain cutlet without changing the rest of the order.
If You Want It Lighter
The chicken board is not automatically the heavy end of the menu. The Anytime gets most of its richness from avocado rather than from frying, and the Caesar Salad Wrap is the closest thing on the board to eating a salad with one hand. If you want to go further in that direction, the salad section is its own guide, and the healthy eating guide covers how to put a lighter lunch together across the whole menu rather than within one section of it.
What It Costs
At the time of writing the chicken board runs from roughly ten dollars at the low end to about twelve and a half at the high end, with the plain chicken cutlet and The Anytime sitting at the bottom of that range. Prices move, so take the range as a guide and read the menu page for what is current. Compared with the rest of the lunch options it lands in the same territory as the burger board, which is the usual other answer to the same question.
What to Put Next to It
Fries are the obvious side and come in two sizes. The more seasonal answer in October is soup, where the two options are Chicken Noodle and Creamy Tomato, each available as a smaller or larger serving. Half a hero and a cup of soup beats a whole hero on a cold waterfront day, and it is the order that gets overlooked once the weather turns.
For drinks, a sandwich this substantial does better with something unsweetened next to it. Cold brew on tap is the standing answer, the Rishi tea lineup covers the no-caffeine and the herbal end, and the espresso guide sorts out the coffee board if you want something short after you eat rather than something long alongside it. Autumn specifics are in the fall drinks guide.
Twelve Chicken Options, Open Until 9 PM
Heroes, wraps and cutlets made to order at 10 Bay Ridge Ave, with La Colombe coffee and Rishi tea at the same counter.
Ordering for More Than Yourself
A chicken board this wide is useful for groups precisely because nobody has to agree. Twelve options covers the spice-averse, the grilled-only and the person who wants a Chicken Parm from one order. For an office floor that is a catering conversation rather than a counter one, and the office catering page covers how it works locally. The corporate events guide has the longer version, and the office breakfast guide is the morning equivalent.
Taking It Outside
The reason to think about shape before filling is that a lot of lunch in this neighborhood does not get eaten indoors. The waterfront is a few minutes away, and between the pier, the promenade and Owl's Head Park there is no shortage of places to sit with a wrap. The outdoor dining guide covers where to actually sit down, and the lunch guide puts the chicken board in context against everything else available at midday.
Where to Find Us
Pier 69 Market is at 10 Bay Ridge Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11220, open Monday through Friday from 6 AM to 9 PM and Saturday and Sunday from 7 AM to 9 PM, a short walk up from the 69th Street Pier and close to Owl's Head Park. Delivery and pickup run through GetSauce. Directions and current hours are on the visit page, and the Bay Ridge lunch page and Bay Ridge cafe page cover the basics. Anything else is on the FAQ or a call to (718) 777-6969.
