Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner

The fam 

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

Ten years ago we moved to southern Illinois.  In that time we've eaten at some great local restaurants.  We tend to find our favorites and stick to them.  For some reason we don't venture out of that comfort zone, but over the weekend we did just that.

Folks here rave about the Giant City Lodge (located in Makanda) and the all you can eat fried chicken. I'll admit, I haven't had fried chicken in a LONG time, mostly because I've cut out fried foods from my diet.  I indulge occasionally though, don't get me wrong.  My birthday is coming up soon, and my parents always take us out to eat to celebrate.  This year I wanted to make the trek to the lodge and try the chicken.

The dinner

Most of the people who responded to my question about it on Facebook said it was the best fried chicken in southern Illinois.  Like I mentioned before, I don't eat much of it, but after our lunch I can tell you it's the best I've had.  The meal is served family style.  Things begin with made-from-scratch (I presume) biscuits and apple butter.  The fried chicken is served with mashed potatoes, dumplings (which I don't like), green beans, and corn.  I probably went a bit overboard, eating three pieces of chicken and a couple of helpings of potatoes, corn, and beans and at least two biscuits. 

There were seven of us eating, five of us had the chicken.  Everyone left stuffed.  We even walked away with two to-go boxes, so there's delicious leftovers in my immediate future. It's not the best way to be successful with "Operation Find My Abs", but I think it's okay to enjoy the fried and sweeter things in life from time to time.  Besides, I ran four miles before eating, so that counts for something, right?