Corey Bradley makes a guarantee to the customers who stand in line for his smoked turkey legs: “If it don’t fall off the bone, it’s free.”
The slogan would come to change the course of Bradley’s life, in particular after opening Turkey Leg Paradise in the Cedars neighborhood on Nov. 9 last year. The restaurant had just enough time to get established before the coronavirus obliterated any semblance of routine.
The motto originated one Sunday night at a bar where Bradley worked security during summers when he had time off from his main job as a school bus driver. He had recently started selling his smoked turkey legs on game days with initial success, when one night, a competitive friend challenged the alleged tenderness of the turkey legs. Bradley rebutted with the “fall off the bone” guarantee, and sure enough, after a couple of shakes, the juicy meat fell from the bone, as he knew it would.
As Bradley expanded his network with more pop-ups, the motto evolved into a marketing tool. Customers who doubted that a State Fair-size turkey leg would slide off its bone were asked to agree to be video recorded, and each time, Bradley worked his turkey leg magic by liberating the succulent meat into its foil wrapping with a couple of easy shakes.
The videos were then used to announce pop-up events on Twitter, but Bradley never expected them to go viral. He says he was “in awe” when an early one received over 2 million views in one day. It crashed his phone. Another video a few months later received a total of 8 million views. After his account went from 300 followers to 8,000, he realized he had to do more.
So he purchased a trailer. Inside it was a white board on which Bradley wrote: “2019 is my year.” It would be the year that one follower stopped in for a turkey leg while driving a U-Haul in the middle of a cross-country move. Another loyal customer sent her husband for an order after discovering she was in labor. “She needs a turkey leg today,” her husband told Bradley. 2019 was also the year restaurateur Jason Caswell called and asked Bradley if he could meet for a drink.
After Bradley added two of Caswell’s bars to his pop-up schedule and dramatically increased business on the days he was at Ross & Hall and The Chuggin’ Monk (formerly LG Taps), it was clear Bradley needed a bigger kitchen, especially as the videos continued going viral. So Caswell and his business partner Shawn Corley became investors and connected Bradley with their real estate agent to go pick out a restaurant.
Today, inside the location on South Lamar, all the new chairs are stacked on tables. Ten blank flat-screen TVs surround the bar and dining area that’s closed until Gov. Greg Abbott allows restaurants to expand to 100% capacity. Bradley says he doesn’t want to risk it until then. The plan was for even more TVs, but for now, he’s decided to focus on what’s important.
“I wanted people to come and have an experience — come watch the game, enjoy the music. … I had so many plans.”
Among the things he wants to do when it’s finally safe to fully reopen the dining room are add brunch service and include his grandmother’s sweet potato pie on the dessert menu, which currently includes homemade banana pudding and, on Sundays, peach cobbler. Bradley credits his grandmother Charlene Miles for teaching him how to cook. He becomes emotional when talking about her first visit to Turkey Leg Paradise — “I can go home now,” she said to him with pride, referring to a sense of accomplishment expressed through her grandson’s restaurant.
For now, Turkey Leg Paradise will remain open solely as a takeout restaurant Fridays through Sundays from 2 to 8 p.m. or sellout, which is what usually happens first. “It’s a blessing to be able to make money in a pandemic. We could’ve been a bar,” Bradley says.
Even though he did not receive any Paycheck Protection Program funds, Bradley says he won’t let it discourage him. Business on the three days a week when the restaurant is open has been enough to remain profitable, and recently, the George Floyd protests that have led to support of Black-owned businesses have helped even more.
Around 1:30 p.m. on each day Turkey Leg Paradise is open, a line starts forming for Bradley’s pretty-much-famous turkey legs that he and lead cook Adrian Hardy have tended at a wood-fired smoker through the night. The fans will order what’s available from the full menu, which offers legs with nine different sauce options, as well as legs that are smothered with spicy mac ‘n’ cheese, red beans and rice, broccoli cheese casserole or, for seafood lovers, the four-cheese Cajun pasta with shrimp. There are also po’boys, catfish, wings and fried turkey tenders, but mostly, people come for the legs and an order of Corey’s Coolaid — “it’s Kool-Aid with a twist,” Bradley says.
There were times in the opening process back in 2019 when Bradley wondered if he was being treated differently than owners with establishments north of I-30, particularly when, he says, he had three health inspections in one month — all of which he passed.
Caswell assisted in all the tedious work of opening the restaurant and made some calls about the health inspections, but he’s been more than an investor and silent partner at Turkey Leg Paradise. Bradley considers him one of his best friends and calls him for advice on any matter, business or personal.
Bradley is adamant about thanking Caswell, his lead cook Hardy, and his sister Shamesha Walker, who works as manager, and he is expressly grateful for all his supporters.
“We have such a diverse crowd, and I want to thank everyone. There’s no better feeling than to look outside and see a line of people waiting to try your food,” Bradley says.
He believes that everyone has opportunities that come along in life, “but you have to capitalize on them or you’ll lose them.” Turkey Leg Paradise was one of Bradley’s opportunities. “It’s all bigger than me,” he says.
Turkey Leg Paradise is located at 1715 S. Lamar St. turkeylegparadise.com.
