The Chicken House

I've been to a restaurant called The Chicken House twice, and the dish I keep thinking about is a ravioli. I stand by that, and the chicken still lives up to the legend.

The Chicken House sits on Highway 111 in Sellersburg, Indiana, in a building that dates to the early 1830s, and by its own count it has been frying chicken for more than 80 years. A place doesn't last that long on one dish, even when the dish is on the sign.

The Vibe

Down-home, and not as a decorating theme. It feels like a dining room that has been feeding the same families for generations, because it has.

On one visit we were meeting the golf coach from Indiana University Southeast. He spent the first few minutes scanning the room, because this was a favorite spot of his friend Fuzzy Zoeller, the New Albany native who won the Masters and the U.S. Open, and he figured there was a fair chance Fuzzy was already there. He wasn't that day. Zoeller has since passed, and he was a big supporter of the IUS golf program to the end. When a man who could eat anywhere in the world keeps turning up at a chicken house on a county road, that tells you something about the chicken.

Service both visits was warm and attentive without hovering.

The Food

The fried chicken is crispy, juicy, and never greasy. It has a reputation that stretches well past Clark County, and it earns it.

The surprise was a daily special, a homemade lobster and shrimp ravioli. It was rich, cooked right, and better than it had any business being at a fried chicken house. It told me this kitchen can do a lot more than bird.

The Reuben, on the other visit, was done the way a Reuben is supposed to be done, which is rarer than it should be. The cornbread is fantastic. I loved the German slaw, which is cabbage, onion, and bacon in a dressing with no mayo anywhere near it. Portions are massive, and both times I left carrying a box.

The Bottom Line

The chicken is the reason people have been pulling in here for 80 years, major champions included. The specials board is the reason I'd tell you to make the drive. I'm due for a third trip, and I've got a list: the chicken and dumplings, the hand-breaded fried mushrooms, and the spicy cheese curds. When I've eaten them, I'll tell you what I think.

A note on the photos, or the lack of them: these visits came in the early days of wellfd, before we started shooting every plate, menu, and doorway the way we do now. No worries. We'll be back, and we'll come home with a camera full.