BETHLEHEM, Pa. — At The Bayou, the dining experience is all about uniqueness.
The southern food restaurant embraces two days out of the week at its Bethlehem and Easton locations that showcase food flights unlike any other in the Valley.
Each Tuesday — known as Fat Tuesday at The Bayou — the restaurant's mac and cheese flight resurfaces, featuring regular, brisket mac and Nashville mac. The following day it celebrates "Waffle Crush Wednesday," with a menu of different chicken and waffle variants The Bayou offers, or a flight of all four for $25.
It's a nod to the growing popularity in food flights in the culinary world, and local successes like that of Pat's Pizza and Bistro's original pasta flight, Bayou business partner Mo Taylor said.
"We were like 'our mac and cheese flight does well, and [Pat's Pizza and Bistro is] killing it with this pasta flight. What else sells? What else can we do variants of?'" Taylor said. "That's it, that's the hard part... But once we [decided the variants] we said, 'Well, we gotta do a flight.'"
Peach cobbler and Nashville hot
For now, chicken and waffle flights consist of the following flavors: classic chicken and waffles, waffles and gravy, peach cobbler and Nashville hot — two concepts catering to growing culinary trends this year.
“Old favorites like BBQ are taking on new flavors and social sharing is influencing the spread of regional fares like Nashville Hot. Even the chicken competition is going global on local menus.”Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research for the National Restaurant Association
The National Restaurant Association referred to Nashville hot as a "standout" and "natural" flavor emerging over the past two years in its What's Hot 2024 culinary forecast. Nashville hot topped the restaurant association's 2023 trend list, too.
In a news release, Hudson Riehle, the restaurant association's senior vice president of research, said culinary trends this year are being dominated by consumer cravings and social media influence.
“Old favorites like BBQ are taking on new flavors and social sharing is influencing the spread of regional fares like Nashville Hot," Riehle said. "Even the chicken competition is going global on local menus.”
Those concepts aren't much of a surprise to Taylor at The Bayou — he said the restaurant runs through waffle irons regularly due to the high demand for chicken and waffles. Adding flights into the mix has also proved to be a "consumer driver," he said.
It's driven enough business to the restaurant that Taylor said Waffle Crush Wednesday might soon feature more dessert-oriented options.
"I think the shareability of a flight is what our guests really like; the fact they can get different flavors. But, you know, that's been from the beginning, the premise of our whole menu is to be shared."Mo Taylor, business partner at The Bayou
"We've definitely lead heavy on the promotion of these two to help build the customer base," Taylor said. "I think the shareability of a flight is what our guests really like; the fact they can get different flavors. But, you know, that's been from the beginning — the premise of our whole menu is to be shared."
More in store?
The Bayou is at 64 Centre Square in Downtown Easton and at 702 Hawthorne Road, off Stefko Boulevard, in Bethlehem.
Assistant Manager Savannah Bubori described the restaurant's portion sizes as larger and confirmed that the chicken and waffles flight fits their standard and is especially popular for its shareability.
"Everyone loves it," Bubori said. "The flight's a really big hit because everyone likes to try all the different types that we have. So it's going pretty well."
Well enough that both Bubori and Taylor said new variations might be on the way if trials go well.
For now, all items on both the mac and cheese flight and the chicken and waffles flight are available in full entree-sized portions, if customers want a larger bite to eat on their second visit.
EDITOR'S NOTE: LehighValleyNews.com will be visiting some food flight spots across the Lehigh Valley. If you have a recommendation, contact Makenzie Christman at makenziec@lehighvalleynews.com or on Instagram at makenziemchristman.
