Pastrami stuffed fried chicken arrives at Brooklyn Diner.

Brooklyn Diner’s cake display grabs you at the entrance. Photo: Gael Greene

           Pastrami-stuffed fried chicken debuts at Brooklyn Diner tomorrow (Thursday, May 10). If chickens could sing, these would chirp: “I’ve got you under my skin.” The pastrami creativity is just one side effect of a recent obsession with pastrami and corned beef that has seized Fireman Hospitality Group Leader Shelly Fireman. “I wasn’t happy with the meats we were serving at Brooklyn Diner,” he says.

Shelly Fireman contemplates pastrami at Café Fiorello. Photo: Steven Richter

          Months of pastrami research, lectures by cured meat experts and fact-finding missions at suppliers inspired Fireman to put out $20,000 for a machine that lets him cure his own meats. The pastrami stuffed under the skin of Brooklyn Diner’s chicken came to him in a flash after he tasted Ed Schoenfeld’s pastrami egg rolls at RedFarm.

          Insiders say the owner of Café Fiorello, Red-Eye Grill, Trattoria del Arte, Bond 45 and multiple Brooklyn Diners has been working on a brand new concept that has been sidetracked by his focus on rethinking the look and taste of Red-Eye first.

          The Fireman Group is an InsatiableCritic advertiser and the Firemans are longtime friends.

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