Specializing in fried chicken and seafood, Mothers Best will pop up at Helen's Feb. 20 and 21. (Photo courtesy Mothers Best)
Preaching the gospel of gas station fried chicken, when Ross Winecoff talks about the breaded and brined meat, the adoration in his voice is clear.
“Brown’s,” the Charlottesville native responds when asked about his go-to spot. “A little gas station — amazing fried chicken. You go up there to the window, and the whole place smells good, and you feel welcomed. That’s what I grew up loving.”
That same soul-soothing feeling is one Winecoff and partners Ean Bancroft and Phil Gerringer hope to achieve with their Mothers Best fried chicken pop-up. The nomadic, multistate venture from longtime friends and dining industry veterans is bringing its dose of brown sugar-brined delights to Helen’s on Feb. 20-21 for a double-header of down-home comfort fare.
“Collards. Fried chicken. Gumbo. Salt pork and white beans,” Winecoff says, ticking off the menu offerings. “Homey, nostalgia-based food that feels good. The way you remember it. The idea of this whole concept is just having a good time. Relatable and not over your head."
Formerly of Stella’s, Winecoff, a VCU grad, worked at restaurants in Portland, Oregon, and Atlanta before relocating to Richmond at the onset of the pandemic.
Winecoff and Bancroft kept in contact after initially working together during a butchering stint at Charlottesville’s J.M. Stock Provisions. Previously heading up the kitchen at Sweet E’s, a Caribbean-Southern mashup in Decatur, Georgia, Bancroft grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Tallahassee, Florida, with coastal seafood at the heart of his cooking bible.
While both were working restaurant jobs in the Peach State, Winecoff received a call from Bancroft, currently the kitchen manager at Sceptre Brewing Arts in Decatur, seeking out his biscuits for a fried chicken pop-up. Proud of the recipe he’s worked years to perfect, Winecoff was on board.
Of their inaugural pop-up in August, Winecoff says, “It took off. Everybody has been so receptive in Atlanta, and everybody keeps saying, 'Where’s y’all’s brick-and-mortar, where’s y’all’s spot?’ ”
Last year, Mothers Best embarked on a two-week run of pop-ups, offering oyster and soft-shell crab specials in addition to a handful of brunches with Winecoff’s biscuits as the star. They also ran a hot dog concept at the PGA Championship, fueled the staff of Decatur’s Kimball House for their holiday celebration and handed out food in New Orleans following Hurricane Ida.
“We’re ambitious as s---,” Winecoff says, noting future travels to New Orleans to gather supplies for a Fat Tuesday crawfish boil in Atlanta. “When it comes to doing something, we’re going to go all in.”
Winecoff’s parents are the owners of Mona Lisa Pasta, an Italian eatery, market and deli on Preston Avenue in Charlottesville that’s been open for over 20 years. “Growing up in the kitchen, it’s where I feel like home,” Winecoff says.
Mothers Best is right in line with a recent industry shift toward more approachable and less fussy food, from smash burgers to gourmet hot dogs, mac and cheese, and pizza.
Locally, former pop-up Cobra Burger graduated to a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Church Hill, while Smashed RVA hosts a weekly residency at Hatch Cafe, and ZZQ has announced its own burger-centric concept on the horizon. The team behind Brenner Pass transformed their former cafe Chairlift into Black Lodge, a late-night bar serving fondue-topped potato chips and a monstrous item dubbed “the tower of power,” stacked with patty melts, hot dogs and chicken wings, while the owners of Old Original Bookbinder’s unveiled BigWife’s Mac N’ Cheese, a pop-up with plans to open a permanent location in the former Growlers to Go on Arthur Ashe Boulevard.
With a pop-up scheduled in Charlottesville the day before the two-day stint at Helen’s, Winecoff says Mothers Best is currently aiming to lock down additional Richmond dates in the future. The partners are testing out what works and what doesn’t, including locations.
“We hope it takes off in Richmond,” he says. “The goal has always been to open a restaurant. Does it work out in Virginia, does it work out in Georgia, does it work out in Louisiana?”
Mentioning Popeyes fried chicken, Winecoff says that the Mothers Best crew put in plenty of time developing a signature recipe of their own.
“It was really an aesthetic for us; we wanted it to look right, and once you get that look you can hone flavor at that point,” he says. “Ours has a deep, sweet and salty brine to it — heavy bay leaves, heavy thyme, heavy brown sugar.”
With whispers of a cocktail program featuring upscale hurricanes, hand grenades and Cajun-tinged Sazeracs, the pop-up is coming into its own. Taking its name from the brand of flour that sponsored legendary musician Hank Williams Sr.’s radio program, Winecoff says Mothers Best aligns with who they are.
“Casual, country … it felt so on brand for all of us,” he says. “Damn good fried chicken and coastal seafood, Mothers Best.”
