Courtesy Wing Ding Dong
Over the past six months, as the restaurant industry continues to react and readjust to changing market conditions, the word pivot has never been used more. Restaurants have changed their hours, menus, staffing, safety protocols—even entire concepts—as their owners evaluate their raison d’etre.
Over the past year, Baileys’ Restaurants, a group of 10 restaurants and event spaces owned by Dave and Kara Bailey, has reinvented certain aspects of the business. After the mandatory closures in March, the couple rebounded with Baileys’ Grocery (with boxes, booze, and hard-to-find staples) and then slowly began opening the restaurants one at a time, first with online ordering and touchless delivery to the tables, then a return to full service.
Courtesy Baileys' Restaurants
The most recent addition (and a project that's been in the works for months), is Wing Ding Dong, a pickup- and delivery-based chicken wing concept that operates out of the kitchen at Baileys’ Range, at 920 Olive Street downtown.
Wing Ding Dong (a name that was “fun, catchy, and easy to remember,” according to Dave Bailey) is one of the growing list of restaurant concepts across the country run out of “ghost kitchens” (separate businesses with different menus that piggyback with an existing kitchen). In simple terms, a ghost kitchen is a restaurant without seats, a pivot created to cater to the burgeoning food pickup and delivery business.
The signature item at Wing Ding Dong is a marinated, dry-rubbed, smoked chicken wing that’s available in three sizes: 10, 20, and 30 pieces. The wings are oven-finished rather than deep-fried, but the results are the same and maybe better, according to Bailey. “The wing is juicy, the skin is crisp, and they’ve never been fried,” says Bailey, who notes that is a healthy advantage. A traditional Alabama White sauce (with mayo, horseradish, vinegar, seasoning) comes alongside, but nine other sauce options are available.
Courtesy Baileys' Restaurants
The other offering is a fried chicken sandwich made with whole (not pounded) chicken breast—but don’t get too inquisitive: The marinade is a secret, as are the ingredients in the breading dredge. Served on a beer bun that’s made in house using Civil Life Brown Ale and slathered with Rooster Mayo (the company’s all-purpose, go-to sauce that includes grainy mustard and sriracha), Bailey calls the sandwich “stand-out quality.”
Courtesy Wing Ding Dong
Courtesy Wing Ding Dong
A spicy version and a CBLT (with smoked pulled chicken) is available, as are chicken strips, a fried chicken strip salad (with fried tofu, too). Sides include coleslaw, mac and cheese, and bread and butter pickles that were grown on Bailey’s micro-farm. For dessert, enjoy the cut-and-bake chocolate chip cookie roll.
Seven to-go cocktails are available (in single servings or 20-ounce bottles). Options include a refreshing cucumber mint boozy lemonade and an eye-opening habañero chili margarita. It’s also all deliverable. The whole shebang can be ordered online. The Baileys hope to open additional Wing Ding Dong units in the future.
Courtesy Baileys' Restaurants
The $24 Sweet & Sassy picnic is part cheese board/part dessert sampler and serves two.
Meanwhile, at Baileys’ Chocolate Bar and POP, the upstairs/downstairs restaurants in Lafayette Square, four picnic packs (from savory to sweet) and bottled wine to go (including true Champagne) are now available. They can be transported to your backyard or to Lafayette Park, across the street from the restaurants. Burgers and desserts are also available. Order online.
The last new riff, a dining concept that involves entire neighborhoods, brings Baileys’ Restaurants even closer to home. Set up in advance, the Baileys crew will deliver menu items from Wing Ding Dong, Rooster, Baileys’ Range, or KnockOut BBQ.
“We start with one restaurant on a specified night and can rotate restaurants week to week,” Bailey says. Delivery (including beer, wine, and cocktails) is free, whether it’s door to door or at an established pickup spot. “If we sell it at the restaurants, we can deliver it to your home,” Bailey says.
For complete details, email Bailey at dave@baileysrestaurants.com.
Courtesy Wing Ding Dong
