POPEYES FOR LIFE!

Hi,

Brown's Chicken on US-41 in Highland Park is likely to morph into a Taco Bell.

Since Brown's entered bankruptcy last year, I noticed their chicken pieces were smaller. A wee detail only I would notice: no longer found any chicken tails, either. I always considered these a bonus. The honey had become darker, a cheaper grade though the flavor is effectively the same.

I recall reading an article the roots of their problems came from the Palatine shootings. They were at their peak with approximately 135 restaurants. When they filed for bankruptcy, there were less than 40 restaurants.

What I will really miss of Brown's will be their mushrooms. There are few better fried mushrooms than those offered at Brown's. Most bar and restaurant fried mushrooms seem to come from the same source. Brown's were unique.

I checked Brown's Chicken store locator to find the next closest is Northbrook.

2566 Skokie Valley Rd. Highland Park, IL (847) 433-4430 1.65 miles

3147 Dundee Rd. Northbrook, IL (847) 480-7911 4.20 miles

If Brown's goes adios, I will miss the mushrooms.

Regards,

sinos wrote:POPEYES FOR LIFE!

Exactly my thoughts, though I would eat KFC before Browns as well.

The Brown's near here on Route 38 just west of downtown Geneva morphed into an independent chicken place last spring. I haven't been near the one on the west side of Aurora that shared it's building with a Mexican place with the awful name of Tiawauna. They had separate kitchens but shared the dining room so it was nice when we went there with a work group, everyone could find something they liked. The Mexican part is quite good and I know still there, just haven't noticed about the Brown's side.

I'll also sorely miss their mushrooms. They are the gold standard.

We haven't eaten at Brown's in years. They'd been drifting downward for some time.
Their classic orange-colored slaw has been gone for a long time.
They stopped carrying spicy chicken except in certain neighborhoods (certainly not in Mt Prospect)

I'll only miss it a little bit, but I will miss it. Popeye's is still fun, although it's a very small, greasy bird they serve. With Popeye's it's all about the sides: Dirty rice and onion rings are superb. If the store serves their "onion chips" just walk out.

Sadly, the Brown's chicken down in Midlothian where I live is absolutely terrible. Brown's has always been my mom's favorite fried chicken so, though I grew up downstate, we usually had Brown's any time we were visiting family up this way. Definitely at least once a year at the family reunion, we'd hit the Brown's on Harlem in Oak Lawn and it was fine. This place on 147th though, seems like they use too much flour in the breading and don't filter or change the oil enough, 'cause you end up with a rock hard burnt-tasting shell on everything. Even the mushrooms are terrible.

thought this might be interesting to Brown's fans.

Seems Frank Portillo is mentoring his daughter @ her restaurant Just Toni's in Joliet(their words per their website).

Fried chicken, gizzards, hearts, shrooms....

as well as IB, dogs, and stuffed burgers.

Stumbled upon their website when I was trying to see who was doing the crawfish boil @ a "New Orleans North" event in Joliet 6/8.

Just Toni's
2301 W. Jefferson(route 52)
Joliet, IL.

http://www.justtonis.com

Haven't tried it yet, but a rare new Brown's opened in the Loop last year in the pedway under Millenium Park.

http://www.whatsunderthebean.com/

Here is Steve Carell doing a Brown's Chicken commercial.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... aAZo970RA4

I may be alone in this but I think Marcello's/Father and Son's broasted chicken is fantastic (especially the garlic.) Family's ordered from there for 20+ years and it's my go to pick. surprised I've never seen it mentioned on a food board or yelp or anything.

My memories of Brown's go back to the late 70's when they opened in Skokie on Crawford and Oakton. Up until then, our go to place for fried chicken was Chicken Unlimited on Dempster or the Kentucky Fried Chicken on Main/Skokie Blvd. When it was new, we all loved Brown's. Then we moved to Highland Park in 1979 and there was a Brown's only 5 minutes from the house on 41, so the chicken kept coming. Then, as the years went by, it seemed like Brown's started to go downhill. They added pastas, but that didn't really matter much. Then much later came the mediocre "Chicago Way" crap. I was served raw popcorn chicken at the old Addison (Lake St) location once. To me, Brown's just wasn't the same anymore (or least the 2 locations that I would visit in HP and Northbrook were just subpar).

Finally, Brown's closed in Highland Park, the building was completely remodeled and is now a brand new Taco Bell. I was hoping at least that it would be a KFC/Taco Bell to give us a fried chicken option in town (though lately KFC is not really on my radar). I still have the Northbrook Brown's for now, and even though I could drive there from my office in 60 seconds, it's just not worth it anymore. The chicken is sometimes tough, or has that frozen taste, or old oil. But if I want to go down that greasy memory lane, it's there.

One of my summer jobs was fry cook at a Chicken Unlimited in Elk Grove that eventually turned into a Brown's. The last I knew Chicken Unlimited was down from 300 units to a handful in Key West. I had not known this until returning years later. Personally, I liked the expanded menu, but the chicken was sub-par. At the time when I worked there (Mid-70's) the chain chicken places available in taste order according to my mother were Roy Rodgers (Woodfield, a place I could walk to), Chicken Unlimited, The name escapes me but a red roof place by Randhurst that was a midwest chain, and anything but KFC.

Now it is funny. My wife is Ky born & bred, I almost bought the Col's place where he invented the recipe in Shelbyville (went for more land in Waddy, KY), we knew Claudia Sanders, my wife lives and dies by KFC. My son and I, as well as the two cats in the house like Popeye's better. Church's has a huge local following here in Milwaukee, and I like one of them because he stocks Texas Pete and has donated cases of it to me for sending to the troops.

Brown's Chicken here in Highland, IN isn't bad at all, but dear gods, the side items are amazing! Mushrooms, of course, but also corn fritters, biscuits, and french fries are fantastic. Get some gravy to dip it all in, and you forget that you ever wanted silly old chicken. Seriously, the corn fritters haven't been mentioned that I noticed, and that is a crime against humanity. They're sweet, dense, but perfectly fried with a crispy lace of browned goodness on the outside, and good corn flavor. Ok, I know what's for lunch now.

jimswside wrote:thought this might be interesting to Brown's fans.

Seems Frank Portillo is mentoring his daughter @ her restaurant Just Toni's in Joliet(their words per their website).

Fried chicken, gizzards, hearts, shrooms....

as well as IB, dogs, and stuffed burgers.

Stumbled upon their website when I was trying to see who was doing the crawfish boil @ a "New Orleans North" event in Joliet 6/8.

Just Toni's
2301 W. Jefferson(route 52)
Joliet, IL.

http://www.justtonis.com

Tickled the food nostalgia funnybone on Saturday, , always loved the shrooms from Browns as a kid, Just Toni's has the old recipe down imo:







"The sun came out the other day, through those dusty clouds. And in my mind I was a child.., and it felt good."

fact: if you brought brown's chicken to ravinia, everyone would look at you in envy.

unfortunately since the HP location is closed that will be more difficult now.

exvaxman wrote:The name escapes me but a red roof place by Randhurst that was a midwest chain, and anything but KFC.
.

Could you be referring to Chicken Delights? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_Delight I noticed that was one you did not mention.

Ram4 wrote: I still have the Northbrook Brown's for now, and even though I could drive there from my office in 60 seconds, it's just not worth it anymore. The chicken is sometimes tough, or has that frozen taste, or old oil. But if I want to go down that greasy memory lane, it's there.

I nevert avidly visited Brown's. My parents were always into Church's, the late lamented Sisters Chicken and when no where else to go to, KFC. i remember going to the Skokie location once maybe twenty years ago and don't recall anything special, just that my parents were not too fond and never went back. About five years ago, my husband decided he wanted to give it a shot. Not sure if he said he ever went beforehand, but we went and we encountered that same issue at the location on Central and Lawrence, chicken cooked in what seemed like extremely old oil. So old it left a complete nasty aftertaste. I never wanted to go back after that.

But, damn, jimswside does make those fried mushrooms look good.

Inspired by this thread, I made my way over to the Palatine Brown's for a half pound each of mushrooms and gizzards, and a cup of gravy. Good eatin'! We used to get the gizzards 40 years ago at the long gone Brown's at Wheeling & Dundee. I never cared that much for their regular chicken because the breading was too hard and crunchy. The department at work used to get chicken for about a hundred people from Brown's for celebration lunches and it always bugged me that even though there were several bags of rolls ordered Brown's never included any butter. Wouldn't they figure that some of those hundred people might want a roll with butter?

PortPkPaul wrote:Haven't tried it yet, but a rare new Brown's opened in the Loop last year in the pedway under Millenium Park.

http://www.whatsunderthebean.com/

Just hit it for a late lunch and it was fairly mediocre. This location offers both spicy and original, and not being terribly hungry, I opted for a 2 tender meal. It turned out that they were literally out of every side but mac and cheese, so I went with that by default (although they did offer to make more mashed potatoes or french fries if I could wait).

Chicken tenders were incredibly dry, but the spice was there. Biscuit was very good, the macaroni and cheese an intolerable glob of orange squeeze cheese. Likely my fault for ordering tenders and for arriving late in the day, I'll give it a run another time.

mclarksox wrote:I may be alone in this but I think Marcello's/Father and Son's broasted chicken is fantastic (especially the garlic.) Family's ordered from there for 20+ years and it's my go to pick. surprised I've never seen it mentioned on a food board or yelp or anything.

That was our favorite too, and when they were located at Milwaukee & Austin (and also Harwood Heights?) we would get it all the time. Our standard NYE meal when I was a kid would be the broasted chicken and rib combo with a side of pizza. Now that the only location is on North Ave. we haven't had any of that delightful chicken.

Pie Lady wrote:Now that the only location is on North Ave. we haven't had any of that delightful chicken.

The only location is on North Ave., except for these:

Logan Square Location
2475 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60647
Phone: 773.252.2620

Northbrook Location
1911 Cherry
Northbrook, IL 60062
Phone: 847.498.1500

Ah. Northbrook is on Mr. Pie's way home.

Have they closed more outlets recently? There's a bunch listed here.
I've noticed, but never stopped at the one attached to the gas station on Elmhurst just south of Wheeling High School, but it's the closest.

The Brown's that used to be in Geneva/St. Charles (it sat on the border) and became many things over the last 5 years, is becoming a Brown's again according to the signage out front. I look forward to having some of those mushrooms again!

Just as a side note the Brown's in Aurora that is on West Galena shares it's building with oddly name Tiawanna, a Mexican place. I haven't been in years but the Mexican side had a really good chef that made great food! My work colleagues used to love to meet there for our department meetings because you could get either Brown's or Mexican since they had an open dining area and it made everyone happy!

Kindly support my second employer - the store in Elk Grove when it was a Chicken Unlimited.

Hi,

I visited the Northbrook location a few months ago, it really needed a refreshing. It had a depressing atmosphere.

A friend who visited a Brown's location in Waukegan claims the mushrooms were not the same. I hope it was a fluke or specific to this location, because those mushrooms were a major attraction.

The location I currently favor is at 4359 N. Pulaski, though I don't go there often.

From talking to a manager recently, Brown's is raising from the ashes (investor issues, bankruptcy and new ownership).

I miss my Highland Park Brown's.

Regards,

My wife and I went to the Browns at Dundee & Landwher a couple months ago.

The whole place was dank, disgusting and had a mop-bucket smell that permeated everything. We had sandwiches that were gross but we were too lazy to go anywhere else. The chicken is OK but but it'd be better to get to go since you then wouldn't have had to see the conditions in which it was made.

It's been there for 25+ years but it needs to go.

We frequent the Northbrook location every couple of months. There's something for everyone there. The secret that they don't share - you can get day old chicken half price if they have it. I love cold fried chicken, so I'll stop by sometimes just for that. I'll agree that the atmosphere of the restaurant leaves something to be desired. Though, 99% of the time we're carrying out, so I don't worry about it.

I get my Brown's fix every couple of months at the Skokie location at Oakton & Crawford. It has the nicest decor of any fast-food type of establishment that I've been to. Freaking clean and nice bathrooms too.

Did it ever really taste better? No, I don't think so.

=R=