

It should be noted, though, that the idea to add whiskey to the syrup for Luda’s Chicken + Pecan Waffles was, in fact, all Luda. While he “dibbles and dabbles” in cooking at home, he left Chicken+Beer’s recipe development-the boiled peanut hummus, the stout-braised beef cheeks, the buttermilk chocolate cake-to chef Andrew Tabb. “I’m a Virgo, so sometimes I’m a little too hard on myself,” Bridges said, “but we were trying to perfect everything.” He was involved in everything from the “bright, warm” decor to the heavily taste-tested menu. He did, but the restaurant took about three years to open due to a mix of airport construction politics and his own perfectionism. I hoped we would win the bid.” Ludacris spoke at the restaurant’s opening on December 12.

“When you’ve been in Atlanta and you have a name for yourself and you have a lot of integrity and you’re a good businessman. (The company, which is a partner in Chicken+Beer, also operates the airport’s One Flew South.) Also, “it was bidding time for the airport and, in my opinion, that’s the epitome of success, Bridges said. The location was chosen in part because of Bridges’s friendship with Daniel Halpern, CEO and co-founder of Jackmont Hospitality Inc.

Chicken+Beer is located in Concourse D, Gate 5 of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. But he still enjoys a beer every now and again, so it was important to him that Chicken+Beer’s drink menu feature local breweries such as Second Self, Terrapin, Sweetwater, and Creature Comforts. Acting roles-like the one in April’s Fast & Furious 8-mean that Bridges’s diet today consists of a lot more grilled than fried chicken. “The reason I named my album that, a long time ago, is because my diet pretty much consisted of chicken and beer like every damn day,” Bridges said.
