We’re almost to the halfway mark on this year-long fried chicken tour and our fifth stop takes us to Rookies Bar -N- Grill in Brimfield, Illinois.

I’ve never been to this place, so let’s hit the road and get ready to sample our fifth fried chicken feast!

My brother Tom is driving us out to Brimfield and we’re meeting the rest of the fried chicken crew there.

There’s a shot of the not-so-long and somewhat winding road to Brimfield, Illionois!

Here we are at Rookie’s Bar -N- Grill!

They have a nice logo on the side of the building and a comfortable front patio, but we’re eating inside, so let’s go in and see what’s happening!

Wow, there’s a nice dining room in here. I was expecting more of a bar atmosphere, but I quickly found out that the bar is on the other side of the building and we’ll take a look at that in a minute.

First we’ll get settled in and meet the usual fried chicken suspects…

From the top: My brother Tom, my cousin Jeff and Floyd, who’s last name is Wombacher, but we’re still trying to figure out how we’re related!

For tonight, we’re all brought together for a fine meal and some tasty fried chicken!

Ella was our pretty and friendly waitress for the evening and she brought us some drinks and took our fried chicken orders.

I love it when things work out like this!

Okay, time for me to abandon our table and take some photos while dinner is being prepared.

See you in a few minutes, fellow fried chicken eaters!

There’s tables and booths lining the walls of the comfortable and cozy dining room.

They have a nice salad bar up in the front and it’s loaded with fresh items for a nice, personally made salad!

I told you there was a bar area and it’s right though these doors.

it’s really nice in here and there’s more tables, booths and a full bar in the middle of the room.

There’s the trio of beers on tap in here.

There’s a pool table and a jukebox in the back room and a whole wall of gaming machines to try your luck at!

Meanwhile, back at our table…

Tom, Floyd and I all went to the salad bar and got delicious salads. A nice fresh start to our fried chicken dinner!

Tom, Jeff and Floyd all ordered appetizers and we got an order each of, homemade bread sticks with a melted cheese sauce, onion rings and a basket of cheese curds.

I didn’t order an appetizer, I just glommed off of their orders, like the freeloader I am!

The appetizers all were tasty, but I really liked the cheese curds. Usually cheese curds are made from a bag of frozen curds, but these were fresh and made in-house and they were simply delicious!

We’re off to a fabulous start!

Here’s the stars of the show, the fried chicken dinners!

Both Tom and Floyd got the half chicken with fries, Jeff got a half chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy and fries (starch overload!) and I got a half a chicken with homemade potato chips.

Time to dig in!

The fried chicken had a nice, crispy, thin batter and it was juicy and delicious inside. The homemade chips were crispy and seasoned nicely.

A really tasty fried chicken dinner!

There’s Tom, Jeff and Floyd enjoying their dinners.

As always, Jeff wins the clean plate award! No one can devour fried chicken like this guy! It’s always a treat to see the pile of bones he leaves behind! This is a photo of a chicken’s worst nightmare!

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The Fried Chicken Dining Experience

We had a wonderful time here and everyone is really friendly and hospitable. I love the fact that there’s both a comfortable dining room and a fun and lively bar in the next room. It’s truly the best of both worlds and fun place to have dinner and then a few drinks for dessert!

The appetizers were really tasty and some of the best we’ve had so far!

I’ll give the dining experience a generous rating of three and a half Colonel Sanders.

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THE FRIED CHICKEN

There were mixed feelings about this fried chicken, but I really enjoyed it. I really liked the crispy but light breading and it was juicy and cooked to perfection!

My only knock is that it could have been seasoned just a little more, but overall I really enjoyed it!

I’ll give Rookie’s a nice three point two rating. (Note: These ratings are mine and in the 12th and final episode we’ll have everyone’s ratings of the complete tour, so stay tuned for that!)