(Image: Bok a Bok)

This is not the time in the Seattle fried chicken wars to be sidelined but when your home is 110 years old with aging Pike/Pine auto row bones sometimes the best strategy is to shut down the fryers and dig in.

Capitol Hill’s Bok a Bok makes Korean-style fried chicken–  but creates extra crunchiness by double-frying it in canola oil. After a forced closure of its Capitol Hill location midway through October due to structural damage in the floors directly beneath the cook line, chef and owner Brian O’Connor told CHS that he’s aiming to host a grand reopening this spring.

“We have removed all of the concrete floors, plumbing drains, and some walls to remedy the situation,” O’Connor said. “Our goal is to get back open as soon as possible, but with the amount of structural damage we have had to fix, it is taking time to replace the beams to hold up our floor.”

O’Connor opened the first Bok a Bok Chicken location in White Center and expanded with new locations but the 10th Ave restaurant sandwiched into Neumos at the corner of 10th and Pike is now the only Bok a Bok in the city.

Its home is a 1916-era building what was likely one of the less glamorous stops in the old Capitol Hill auto row and certainly not one of the big, multistory showroom facilities. Just over 30 years ago, it was still the Salvation Army until a group of club and rock kids got together to kick off the series of projects that led to today’s Neumos music club.

The Bok a Bok work also meant downtime for Neumos underground sibling Barboza. The basement level club just reopened after being closed for construction from December into January.

(Image: Bok a Bok)

Now that Barboza is rocking again, Bok a Bok is hoping to also go back into motion. It’s hard enough watching Nashville fried chicken by way of Pasadena Dave’s Hot Chicken continue its viral success after opening at 12th and Pike in 2023. Now, Tik Tok-baiting Raising Cane’s is opening in the University District.

Bok a Bok hopes to return well-armed for the Seattle chicken war battles. Its menu includes a sesame soy garlic chicken sandwich, a rice bowl, and all sorts of chicken cuts with a plethora of seasonings and sauces. Looking towards its Capitol Hill reopening later this year, O’Connor said there will be small changes that help streamline the menu and its consistency.

“We are hoping to keep the core menu as is but implement weekly specials, and even reach into the vault of past items and recipes that our guests have been asking for,” O’Connor added.

He thinks staff members are excited to reunite and get back to work, and although the closure was sudden, unplanned, and time-consuming, he hopes everyone can return.

“We are so lucky to have such an amazing community around us, and a staff that is second to none. Bok a Bok will return, I just don’t know exactly when,” O’Connor said.

Bok a Bok will rise again at 1427 10th Ave. Follow @bokabokfriedchicken for updates.

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