1 May 2024
The Southern from Bonafried. | Gabrielle Geiselman Malone/Bonafried
The 10-year-old Bonafried Food Truck has a Bayou St. John restaurant in the works
The 2022 winner of the National Fried Chicken Festival’s “best fried chicken in a dish” is opening its first restaurant, reports the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate. Bonafried will serve its popular fried chicken sandwiches from a new shop near the New Orleans Fair Grounds, hopefully opening by Jazz Fest 2025.
“We can’t wait to offer our customers more availability,” Rebecca Elizabeth Hollingsworth, who goes by Bee, tells Eater. “They really built our business and we couldn’t be more grateful. We were the first chicken sandwich truck in New Orleans and some of our regulars have been with us since our first pop-up 10 years ago.”
Hollingsworth and her partner, Stephen Maher, started Bonafried as a pop-up in 2014, specializing in all things fried: wings, fried chicken sliders, Belgian fries, and more. In 2016, the pair outfitted a former Hostess truck with a kitchen and hit the road, parking outside bars like Gasa Gasa, the AllWays Lounge, and Kingpin. In 2022, it won a top award for its fried chicken sandwich at the National Fried Chicken Festival: “best use of chicken in a dish.”
Gabrielle Geiselman Malone/Southerns
The current menu, served from the truck at two downtown locations on weekdays during lunchtime (near the Caesars Superdome and outside LSU Medical School), consists of five types of fried chicken sandwiches, all with pickles on a potato bun: The Southern, served with a seasoned honey drizzle; the Special, served with a “sweet heat” sauce; the Hot, served with a spicy garlic chili oil; the Mack, served with a secret sauce; and the Honey Mustard.
Bonafried will open in the now-closed Splish Splash Washateria at 3101 Grand Route St. John. According to the newspaper, the laundromat owners approached Maher and Hollingsworth about opening a restaurant at the address after deciding to consolidate their two businesses. It will have about 40 seats, and serve its succinct menu of fried chicken sandwiches and fries — they are twice fried and tossed in house seasoning. Hollingsworth and Maher plan to serve bottled, canned, and hopefully frozen drinks.
Jazz Fest attendees heading to the Fair Grounds this weekend may notice there’s already a sign for the new restaurant in the building’s window, which is located about a half-mile from the festival.