Romeoville, IL

Romeoville is home to White Fence Farm at 1376 Joliet Rd, which claims to have been serving the world's greatest chicken dinners since it opened in the 1920's. They claim to have had over 40,000 customers in its first four months of operation. Maybe they bought chickens from the Marx brothers in nearby Countryside.

As I walked through the parking lot. I had a premonition that it was going to be a giant geriatric gastronomic jihad. Once inside, it looked like a giant Cracker Barrel Restaurant. Turned out it was a family place. There were a lot of children, all well behaved.

I don't think the menu has changed since 1920. There is no bar, but there are cocktail selections on the menu; all classics. You can order a martini, old fashioned, Manhattan, whiskey sour, Rob Roy or other traditional drink. I ordered an old fashioned, and it was pretty good.

Although seafood and steaks are available, it is a chicken place so that's what I ordered. The special is a fried half-chicken. You get four pieces: breast, thigh, drumstick and wing. It is served with pickled beets, creamy bean salad, coleslaw and cottage cheese. You get all of that you can eat (which for me is none).

You also get all the fritters you can eat. I wasn't quite sure what a fritter was. Turns out it is fried dough; sort of like a doughnut. They were delicious.

The place is huge. It has been expanded to 12 rooms, only two of which were opened while I was there. They have seating for 1,200, and for Easter, Mother's day and other big weekends, they are full for several seating's. There are many interesting antiques, including several pristine vintage cars and motorcycles.

The staff was pleasant and accommodating. I was given a tour and got answers to all the questions I asked about the history of the restaurant.

The chicken was excellent. They have never-frozen chickens shipped in every day and have their own secret recipe for batter and cooking. I don't know if it is in fact the best chicken anywhere, but I can't recall ever having any better than at the White Fence Farm.

This is a place I can recommend even though it doesn't have a bar.

Romeoville also had the Crazy Rock Gentlemen's Club. You could check out the breasts and thighs at the Crazy Rock after checking out the breasts and thighs at the White Fence. Unfortunately, the Crazy Rock has closed, and the property is being redeveloped.