Chef-owner John Perkins has opened a new home for his famous fried chicken. His concept is fast casual; Sunday bestwhich reopened on April 24 as The Hill Food Company's Ghost Kitchen, featuring his painstakingly perfected fried chicken and a concise menu of several complementary salads and sides. is.
Sunday Best originally debuted as a full-service restaurant in the Central West End last summer as a follow-up to Perkins' long-running Southern comfort food concept, Juniper, but due to logistical challenges it closed in February. closed. The closure coincides with the opening of a stall at City Park by Sunday Best, and the new ghost kitchen location will serve as a catering and football stadium concession stand, meaning that Perkins will bring fried chicken to the game, both literally and figuratively. helped me keep going.
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“We weren't going to give up completely, but it was clear that the old location wasn't going to work,” Perkins says. “This allows the brand to gain public attention. This allows us to test whether this is a good model for us. The cost of doing this is minimal. From the football stadium. Combined with the revenue, I think this is doable, but unlike anything I had before, it wasn't doable.”
At The Hill Food Co., Sunday Best works with about a dozen other grab-and-go-only food concepts under one roof. Approximately 400 square feet of kitchen space will allow Perkins and his small staff to continue serving “his fried chicken shop reimagined for the 21st century” on a regular basis. “It's really minimal surgery. There's a saying in the startup world of 'minimum viable product,' and that's where we are right now,” Perkins said. “It's a skeleton crew. We're open five days a week, and we just have chicken, four sides, and some salads. So it's a very simple menu.”
Half Bird.
Mabel Suen
For Perkins, the shortened menu is in line with what he originally wanted for Sunday Best. “This is truer to the original idea. We didn't intend to rebrand Juniper, but we tried to find a way to make the old space work,” he says. “Initially, we envisioned it as a small drive-thru place with high-quality, fast-casual fried chicken and a few sides. That was it.”
Ghost Kitchen offers chicken tenders and Sunday Best sandwiches, as well as a choice of two-piece, half- or whole-bird combinations. For the uninitiated, Sunday Best's signature fried chicken is made by he soaking it in salt water for 24 hours, then dredging it moist with flour and a few herbs and spices. Bone-in chicken is pressure-fried to create a crumbly crispy skin and tender, juicy meat.
Mabel Suen
A staple on Perkins' menu since its inception in 2018, the crowd-favorite Sunday Best sandwich features fried boneless chicken thighs on a toasted potato bun with chili jelly, smoked mayonnaise, and dill pickles. is. “Bone-in chicken, tender chicken, and sandwich chicken can all be eaten by dipping them in hot oil and sprinkling them with STL Hot He spices,” Perkins adds. “Process-wise it's very similar to the Nashville hot style. You take a bunch of spices, basically bloom them in hot oil, strain out all the solids, and then dip the chicken in a red spicy dipping oil. What makes it different is that STL Hot Spice has a slightly sweeter profile.
As an appetizer, Sunday Best offers fried Brussels sprouts and pimento cheese with Cajun-spiced fried saltines. Mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, collard greens, and fries are offered as side options, while chopped and cobb salads complete the full menu. Perkins hopes this provides the foundation the brand needs to survive. .
“We've been through a lot. For now, we're going to keep it locked for a year and refine and refine it a little bit. We're going to dig deep into building a system that we can reproduce. Just do it,” says Perkins. “We'd like to have a brick-and-mortar restaurant somewhere in the future. Interaction with our guests is very important to us. For now, we're just playing soccer and running this little kitchen. I’m happy with how well I did.”
Sunday Best can be ordered directly at the kiosk, through the Sunday Best website, The Hill Food Co. website, or through third-party delivery services.
Sunday Best is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at The Hill Food Co. For more information and updates, follow us on Instagram.
Sunday Best (at The Hill Food Co.), 2360 Hampton Ave., St. Louis, MO, sundaybestchicken.com
