Chicken Place

Every year, my family spends Thanksgiving in Jasper, IN -- and one of the things that makes the trip even more special is an early dinner at the Chicken Place!  We like to get there right when it opens at 3:30pm and spend an hour+ enjoying quite possibly the best fried chicken I've ever had.  

The chicken is unbelievably moist, crisp and flavorful.  I'll get a 1/2 chicken order blended with a breast, wing, drum and thigh.  Comes with 2 sides (love the German potato salad and real potato French fries) all for under $14.  I can't eat it all...but order extra to bring home 'cause I only get this little piece of heaven-on-a-bone once a year!  

They also serve ice cold beer in a glass the size of a fish bowl.  Call it a "schooner".  20oz.  The black and tan (Guinness 'n Bass) in particular pairs well with anything served here :-)    

Great place to bring the kids!

Reviewer Eric P is right on the money. That's the perfect day.  Actually any day that ends at the Chicken Place is a perfect day.  I'm a Southerner by birth so I take my Fried Chicken seriously, and so does this place.  It's always crowded so try to get here early.  And expect a bit of a wait because they fry their chicken the correct way (in an iron skillet rather than a deep fryer).  As Alton Brown says your patience will be rewarded because the chicken is moist, flavorful, and crispy in all the right places.  You'll chortle the next time you pass by a KFC.  The ambience is homey.  Meals are accompanied with tasty local bread.  And you can order your chicken a multitude of ways  white,  1/2 dark etc.  Even a la carte.  I love an appendage meal (legs and wings).  Livers and gizzards are even available if that's your thing.  5 clucks for the Chicken Place.

So, here's a perfect summer day:

Early morning rise and drive to Holiday World.  Rides in the morning, water park from 11-5 with multiple trips around the lazy river.

After drying off and getting the water out of your ears, heading to Ireland, Indiana to dine at the Chicken place.  Ordering a 1/2 chicken, german potato salad, and a schooner of beer.

The fried chicken is expertly cooked and flavorful from (I think) being brined.  It's so juicy that my breast piece, one of two, had a puddle forming underneath after one bite.

I saw this place on roadfood and a couple other places, but definitely a required stop if rolling through S. Indiana.