A popular Birmingham-area restaurant is expanding to Montgomery.

Eugene’s Hot Chicken plans to open a restaurant in the 79 Commerce building later this year.

Founder Zebbie Carney said it should begin serving in either the third or fourth quarter.

“It’s been on our radar for a while,” Carney said. “We’ve been bringing our food truck down there for years, and it’s kind of our market tester.”

Carney said the company “has a few more opportunities at growth in the Southeast” but didn’t choose to elaborate right now.

Carney started with a food truck around 2015, moved to a brick-and-mortar location downtown in 2017, and expanded to Hoover in 2020.

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Eater, a popular food website, included Eugene’s Hot Chicken in its 2022 list of “The Best Fried Chicken in America.”

Chicken tenders, wings, chicken sandwiches, popcorn chicken, chicken quarters, whole chickens, chicken and waffles, fried chicken salad. Heat levels range from “Lemon Pepper and Southern (no heat)” to “Stupid Hot (for the bold and daring).”

Eugene’s has locations at 2268 Ninth Ave. N., Birmingham; and 3232 Galleria Circle, Suite 101, in Hoover.