It’s a well-known fact that some of the best-kept culinary secrets are found in hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Some of the best ice cream shakes can be found in alleyway ice cream parlors, hamburgers on food trucks tucked in the back of parking lots, and fried chicken in shacks along well-traveled highways.
This is exactly what brothers Brandon Bennett and Blake Bennett and their cousin, Jay Morris, were inspired by when creating their restaurant, Red Bird Fried Chicken, which aims to open its first Capital Region location in July. This Covington-born favorite with additional locations in New Orleans and Gretna is spreading its wings and flying to 2660 Sac Au Lait Blvd. near Bass Pro Shops in Denham Springs.
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Inspired by the Louisiana cooking the family grew up with, Red Bird’s handcrafted menu consists of dark or white meat pieces that are soaked for 24 hours in the brand’s secret wet marinade before being fried up. The marinade keeps the chicken so moist that even the white meat is juicy, Brandon says.
Red Bird offers chicken a few different ways. Its most popular dish is the Red Bird Combo, which comes with two to three chicken pieces. The eatery also serves up wings, jumbo tenders, and fried chicken sandwiches, all slathered in its signature chicken sauce. All combos come with a Rooster Roll and a house-made side, including red beans, gumbo, smashed potatoes, fries, okra and more.
“All of our sides are made in-house, so we don’t buy anything from food vendors or third parties. Our gumbo is ours, our mac and cheese is ours, everything homemade,” Brandon says.
Salads with crispy proteins, fried Gulf seafood, family boxes and desserts, like the Butterfinger Roll and Oreo Roll, also dot the menu.
Additionally, all dine-in customers at Red Bird will be met with a treat: a completely unsupervised, take-as-much-as-you-want sauce bar, affectionately known as the “bird bath.” Here, chicken lovers have an all-access pass to a bounty of sauces, like buffalo sauce and smoky ketchup, though Brandon believes the original chicken can stand on its own. It won the top prize at the 2023 National Fried Chicken Festival in New Orleans last fall.
“We have mild and spicy (chicken), but it’s not crazy spicy,” Brandon says. “I always recommend the spicy, because that’s what won us the National Fried Chicken Fest.”
The fried chicken trio first heard about the National Fried Chicken Festival while they were in the process of opening their original location in Covington in early 2023. But at the time, they were too deep in the throes of being first-time business owners to participate. However, the following year, Red Bird was contacted by the festival asking them to participate, Brandon says. Red Bird looks to defend its title at the 2024 event this October with the fried chicken that the founders feel is set apart from other versions in the state.
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“Our chicken is different. When you think of Louisiana chicken, you think of Popeyes or Cane’s, which is something we want to change,” Brandon says. “When we were coming up with the chicken concept, my brother and I both said, ‘We don’t want to just be compared to other chicken restaurants.’ We’ve created something special.”
Red Bird in Denham Springs will be open 11 a.m.–9 p.m. daily. View its menu at givethemtheredbird.com or follow it on Instagram at @redbirdfriedchicken for updates about the Denham Springs opening.