Mark Traugutt and Alfonso Duron first opened Fork and Hen in a teeny-tiny space on North Tamiami Trail in June 2022 after brief stints at food halls in Tampa and Orlando. Despite the tight confines, the pair built a devoted following thanks to their creative twist on Southern classics—like a crispy fried chicken sandwich served on focaccia and topped with housemade pickled vegetables, or a dreamy baked macaroni and cheese that magically did not turn into a gloopy mess. 

Now the two have relocated, opening Fork and Hen in the Main Street space vacated by Made last year. You’ll still find that chicken sandwich ($22) and mac and cheese ($20), but also an expanded selection of other quirky spins on classics.

The appetizer selection, for example, highlights a “porky poutine” topped with a coffee-flavored gravy and queso Oaxaca ($18), as well as drop biscuits crossed with crab Rangoon ($18), in which the guest spreads a pimento crab dip across piping hot biscuits. There’s also oysters Rockefeller ($18), smoked fish spread ($16) and a crab cake ($26), if you’re looking for something a little more traditional.

Fork and Hen has attracted several bartending titans from Sarasota’s craft cocktail scene, who developed a tantalizing drink list. A “1944 chai tai” is made with spiced rum, lime juice, orgeat, Curaçao and mint ($16), while a “Southern paloma” blends tequila, watermelon and lime ($15). The drinks carry the restaurant’s strategy of iterating on beloved standards into its bar program, a new feature made possible by a full liquor license the owners didn’t have at their former location.

Entreés include five different versions of fried chicken. In addition to the handheld version, you can order it as part of a blue plate special paired with corn cakes, collard greens and a honey lavender butter ($29), with a waffle ($25) or as enormous spread for four ($125), in which a whole chicken is carved tableside and served with heaping portions of cornbread, mac and cheese, collards and fries.

While $125 for a single chicken might seem steep, it reflects the rising cost of food and doing business in downtown  Sarasota, where rapid rent increases are common. And yes, you might balk at some of the other prices on the menu, but it helps that Fork and Hen’s food is delicious and its portions are enormous. Its karaage fried chicken (a Japanese technique that results in crisp skin and juicy meat) and “Mama’s” shrimp fried rice ($37) is a festival of flavor, thanks to the dish’s head-on prawns, a generous coating of spicy aioli and an expertly prepared rolled omelet resting atop a dish that almost spills over the edges of the plate. Tender braised birria with grits ($38), meanwhille, is a throwback favorite from the original location and seamlessly fuses Mexican and Southern flavors.

Huge portions carry into the limited dessert offerings, which include a chocolate cheesecake or banana pudding (both $12). The banana pudding is served in a goblet fit for a giant. It’s layered with classic Nilla wafers and pralines that bring a welcome crunch to an otherwise single-texture picnic favorite.

Overall, I think locals will come to love this version of Fork and Hen more than the last. Regular visitors will find comfort in discovering they can still get a killer fried chicken sandwich alongside plenty of new dishes to sample, and newcomers are bound to fall in love with something on the menu. I can’t wait to see what Traugutt and Duron think of next.

FORK AND HEN | 1990 Main St., Suite 112, Sarasota, (941) 444-7094, forkandhenonmain.com