Babe's Chicken Dinner House

I just returned from a trip to Fort Worth, Texas, where I was able to pay a couple of visits to an old friend: Babe's Chicken Dinner House in Roanoke. I try to get there at least once every time I'm in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, because, as the attentive reader will immediately grasp, this is very much my kind of restaurant.

Quite simply, Babe's is the best fried chicken I have ever eaten in a restaurant. They do a mean chicken fried steak, too, but the far trickier business of mastering great fried chicken makes Babe's a rare gem indeed. When you sit down, you are asked to choose your meat (oh, if life could always be like that!)... everything else is automatic: unlimited salad (iceberg lettuce), mashed potatoes (the REAL thing, in it's most perfect form), cream gravy (also perfection), creamed corn (the kernels were surely on the cob not 20 minutes before serving, with just enough cream to hold them together), and homemade biscuits (with bottles of honey AND sorghum syrup on the table).  (This place is no exception when it comes to the "dim lighting in Texas restaurants" rule...the pic leaves a lot to be desired, but I can I assure you the ones on their website are accurate.)

No desserts (at least not at the Roanoke location), and it's BYOB, if you so desire.

There are several locations around the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and the other ones I've tried serve great food. But there's something special about the one in Roanoke... it's the original, and it's in a converted warehouse built over 100 years ago. Food tastes better when it's rooted deep in time.

Babe's Chicken Dinner House
104 N. Oak, Roanoke, TX 76262
817-491-2900
website