Redcrest, a fried-chicken shop, signed for East Passyunk

The East Passyunk neighborhood is getting a fried chicken specialist, perhaps later this summer, as Philly-born Brooklyn chef-restaurateur Adam Volk is setting up Redcrest Fried Chicken across from the Singing Fountain.

Redcrest (1525 S. 11th St.), selling a full menu including few varieties of chicken plus sides and desserts, will fill the former prosaically named Fresh Seafood, on the corner where 11th Street and East Passyunk Avenue meet. It's on the same block as Fond, Perla, and the soon-to-close Gennaro's.

Volk grew up in the area and moved to New York to seek his fortune in the restaurant biz. He became a partner at the Greenpoint bistro Esme and its bar. There, he met his wife, Emily, now a veterinarian, who grew up in Pennsport. Seeking better family life, the Volks moved south and now live in Emily's childhood home.

Volk says he was laying in wait for the property, which was Jade Garden before its brief term as a seafood shop. Seeing the closing, he left a letter for the landlord in the mailbox. No reply. He then used property records to locate the owner, with whom he negotiated a lease before the space went on the market.

Volk will offer an "original" chicken (buttermilk with dried spices) and a novel Thai red curry variety, as well as a chicken sandwich, a vegetarian curried eggplant sandwich, and fresh-cut fries.