New Downtown Tuscaloosa Restaurant Offers Hot Chicken & Homemade Soft Serve

A just-opened restaurant in downtown Tuscaloosa is offering spicy Nashville hot chicken, Southern sides, and handmade soft serve ice cream.

Lamon's Fried & Frosty opened earlier this week at 2217 University Boulevard between the Children's Hands-On Museum and Session cocktail bar.

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The bright red restaurant is the brainchild of Ross and Taylor Lamon, a husband-and-wife duo whose separate passions fuel both sides of the business.

Ross Lamon has been in the service industry locally for years and also runs his own catering company. He's responsible for the spicy and savory half of the business model, which has a sharp focus on Nashville hot chicken. The Tennessee specialty gets brined in pickle juice for hours, slow-roasted, breaded, and fried before being sauced up to your preferred heat level.

"Our chicken’s got personality," Ross Lamon told the Thread. "You choose the heat - plain to nuclear - and we fry it crispy every time.”

The menu offers bone-in quarter and half chickens as well as fried, grilled, or blackened chicken and catfish tenders, along with a selection of salads and southern sides including collard greens, a five-cheese macaroni dish and golden, buttery cornbread.

"We don’t cut corners on sides," Lamon said. "The mashed potatoes are riced, the mac is baked, and the greens simmer for hours with ham hocks.”

And if the capsacin's got you sweating and your tongue on fire, Taylor Lamon's contribution to Fried & Frosty is just the cure - soft serve ice cream fresh in house.

“We make our soft serve the way we like to eat it—richer, creamier, and smoother than what you’ll find anywhere else,” Lamon said.

The ice cream is available in chocolate, vanilla, or a twist featuring both, and can be served in a cup or cone, given a hard shell, or topped with peanut brittle or sprinkles.

Fried & Frosty is open now from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m. every day but Monday. The Lamons are looking at adding lunch hours as they continue to get their sea legs at the new restaurant and secure staffing - a task that should be much easier with tens of thousands of college students returning to town.

Lamon also said that if anyone wants to order takeout or delivery to a nearby spot downtown, they offer those services directly on their website.

“Order online at lamonsfriedandfrosty.com for the best deal - it’s cheaper than the apps," Lamon said. "If you’re at Session or Black Warrior Brewing, select Takeout and just drop your location in the special request box of your entrée. We’ll walk it over for free.”

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