Willy’s Chicken and Waffles set to open this month

Baton Rouge will get a chicken and waffles restaurant by the end of the month if all goes according to plan for Greg Williams. Willy’s Chicken and Waffles will be located on Nicholson Drive in the former Tigris Deli at 3285 Nicholson Dr.

Williams is a former executive of Raising Cane’s who left after Hurricane Katrina and started working as a restaurant consultant in Austin, Texas, as well as with Piccadilly’s food service division. The Baton Rouge native got the idea for Willy’s while helping a local with his restaurant concept and seeing the success of Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles in Los Angeles and Big Mama’s in Dallas.

“I thought about how good a concept like that would be in the South,” he says. “The reason for opening is, ‘Why not?’ Everybody loves chicken, and I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t like a waffle.”

Willy’s will offer bone-in, freshly prepared fried chicken, paired with thick waffles that are more than seven inches in diameter. The restaurant will have white meat and dark meat options and the “Willy-wich,” featuring a fried chicken breast between two waffles with the restaurant’s signature mayo and ketchup-based sauce and syrup.

“It’s so big that you have to eat it with both of your hands,” Williams says. “We might have to give bibs out to people when they eat it.”

The interior suits the college crowd with movie and music posters and room for about 30 patrons. Willy’s will include a drive-thru and will be open seven days a week, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. The restaurant will possibly serve later on the weekends if the opportunity and sales are there, Williams says.