Chef-owner Bradley Gilmore (North Carolina native) + Brittany Socha Gilmore + Chef Brandon West; named for Bradley’s grandmother Lula from Pittsboro, NC. Plaza Provisions vendor (one of 5 inside the food hall per plaza-provisions).

Description

Lula Southern Cookhouse is the chef-owner operation of Bradley Gilmore + Brittany Socha Gilmore + Brandon West. Bradley Gilmore is born and raised in Pittsboro, North Carolina — he grew up in the kitchen with his grandmother Lula, whose name + cooking inspire the restaurant.12 Bradley + Brittany have been creating, cooking, and catering in KC for 22 years; they met Brandon West 15 years ago and the three now co-own + operate Lula.

The cuisine is true Southern — Chesapeake to Low Country to New Orleans inspirations — not “Midwestern Southern.” The signature whole fried chicken ($75 with three sides) is widely described as the best fried chicken in Kansas City: Campo Lindo chicken brined 24 hours in brown sugar / garlic / sage, buttermilk-dipped, dredged in flours + cornstarch + seasoning, fried in peanut oil.1

Lula opened in November 2022 at the edge of the Crossroads in the former Nara sushi space (Nara had 14 years in that location). The operation has since become one of the Plaza Provisions food-hall vendors (per plaza-provisions).

Tier classification

Tier 1 — Chef-owner KC-resident operation; multi-decade KC catering + cooking tenure.

Criterion match: chef-owner operation (Bradley Gilmore lead, with co-owners); KC-resident operators (Bradley + Brittany have been operating in KC for 22 years; Brandon West joined 15 years ago); independent (not chain; not corporate).

Methodology note: Bradley Gilmore is not KC-native (Pittsboro, NC). The criterion’s “roots” framing applies to Bradley’s deliberate KC commitment, not requiring KC-birthplace.

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Lula Southern Cookhouse official site. https://www.lulakc.com/. Source for ownership trio + Bradley’s NC background + Lula naming origin + 22-year KC tenure. ↩ ↩2

  2. Startland News — “New lease on life: ‘Southern cookhouse’ bringing fried chicken.” 2022-04. ↩

See also

Categories
  • Locally owned
  • American
  • Founder Led
  • Crossroads