Bumstead to become Hot Head Fried Chicken in Bay View

The owners of Bumstead Provisions, the sandwich-and-dinner restaurant in Bay View, are switching formats: They will open Hot Head Fried Chicken in its place at the end of summer.

“It just didn’t work out,” co-owner Mike Bodow said of Bumstead. The restaurant at 2671 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., which opened in September, changed chefs in January. In spring, the owners converted the grocery half of the restaurant into seating and added the menu from Crafty Cow, the owners’ burger-and-beer bar in Oconomowoc.

The restaurant on KK is keeping the Crafty Cow menu as it switches the Bumstead menu to fried chicken, and Crafty Cow will remain open at the adjoining 2675 S. Kinnickinnic during the changeover .

Bumstead will be open until shortly before Hot Head’s launch, when that half of the restaurant will close for redecorating. In the meantime, a dog-friendly patio will be opened behind the building.

The fried chicken will be available in several preparations: Southern fried; Carolina Gold, in a mustard-seed barbecue sauce; and the ever-more common Nashville-hot style.

Chicken will be available in two or four pieces, as a whole bird and as a sandwich, with prices from $8 to $28.

Bowls of mac and cheese or grits ($10 to $15) can be customized with add-ins, such as Cajun shrimp and andouille sausage, corn and roasted tomato, or braised pork cheeks.

Side dishes sold separately will include salted watermelon, jalapeño slaw, Crafty Cow cheese curds and cheesy corn.

The restaurant plans desserts like doughnut sundaes and ice cream sandwiches made with croissant-doughnut hybrids.

Hot Head will be open for lunch and dinner, and will have takeout plus delivery by way of Grubhub and UberEats.