Chicken Run
Light, crispy batter is the hallmark of the Chicken George.
The gateway to Middleton from Madison along University Avenue could use a bit of a revamp.
There are several vacant buildings, including the former Cocina Real (relocated to Allen Boulevard) and the “temporarily closed” (according to its website) Sonic drive-in.
But fortunately, the charming little building that housed Crandall’s for so many years, and has been sitting vacant since 2013, has a new restaurant. In December, The Chicken Run entered the scene.
The Chicken Run is the first fast food restaurant from a family-run chain out of Illinois. The other three restaurants, called Candlelight Inn (two in Illinois and one in Iowa), are more like contemporary American supper clubs. The Chicken Run focuses only on Candlelight Inn’s signature dish, “Chicken George,” battered and fried chicken tenders served with the house special “Jan’s Sauce.”
This is definitely not meant to be a sit-down dining experience, though there are a handful of tables inside. Most customers get their chicken and run, which is what I’m guessing the name implies, as opposed to a reference to the stop motion animation feature film from 2000. The signature dish itself is named after a cook named George, who was cutting up chicken breasts, battering and frying them in the early 1970s, according to the Candlelight Inn website. Presumably this predates both the widespread popularity of chicken tenders and the publication of Alex Haley’s Roots in 1976, which, oddly enough, features a character named Chicken George.
There is a drive-through as well as a user-friendly online ordering system. The staff is pleasant and accommodating. When I picked up my online order, the employee apologized that there was no easy way to substitute cheese curds for fries on my online order, and that the issue would be resolved soon. It wasn’t even something I had mentioned as a problem.
Chicken George is available as a half pound or full pound of chicken. A half pound is more than enough for the average person to eat as a meal; a pound also makes a light appetizer for a family of four.
The restaurant touts the fact that its chicken is fresh, never frozen. This appears to be true, as the chicken was juicy and tender, with strands of meat falling away with each bite. It’s a welcome change from the pressed chicken meat often found in chicken fingers and tenders. Maybe even more impressive: The Chicken Run’s breading is light and crispy, much like a favorite fish fry batter.
There are only a couple of sides, including the standard thin, crispy fries. I was not a fan. These fries reminded me of the Jay’s Shoestrings in the middle school vending machine. I didn’t like them then, and I don’t like them now. A better choice is to pay $2 for the battered and fried cheese curds — good, but too greasy.
As for the dipping sauces, Jan’s sauce is the sweetest, almost like a honey mustard but not as thick. The ranch had a lot of garlic, but it worked. The barbecue sauce is very smoky. The Chicken Run sauce tastes like a blend of the ranch and the barbecue. There is an unlisted spicier buffalo sauce that you have to ask for. Only the ranch and the barbecue are not made in-house.
The Chicken Run has one dessert: deep-fried Oreos. Let’s just say this is the kind of dessert that you never need, but always want. It’s a gooey, crunchy, doughy funnel cake wrapped around an Oreo cookie. There is nothing not to love about this dessert, except maybe the calories. But let’s not dwell on that.
I have mixed feelings about The Chicken Run. It seems a little out of place in Middleton, more like the kind of place that would be buzzing around midnight near a college campus. The food is good, and I feel better about patronizing The Chicken Run more than other nationally known chicken chains. But I wonder if a place with such a limited menu will have staying power.
The Chicken Run
6401 University Ave, Middleton; 608-819-8253;
facebook.com/TheChickenRunMiddleton; $1-$13; 11 am-9 pm daily