Big Chicken

I had lunch at the Big Chicken yesterday. This means I dined on Kentucky FRIED Chicken (original recipe) at one of Atlanta's best-known (at least in Atlanta) landmarks, the Big Chicken. The Big Chicken refers to a large chicken-shaped sign that towers over the restaurant on Cobb Parkway in Marietta. The sign is so well-known that locals use it as a point of reference: "Turn left at the Big Chicken," or "Go two miles beyond the Big Chicken." (Just as Parisians probably say, "Hang a left at the Eiffel Tower and you're there." ) A few years back the sign was ripped apart by strong, tornadic-like winds. There was talk of taking the remnants down. A hue and cry ensued and KFC received more than 10,000 letters, phone calls and emails urging the company to restore the Big Chicken to its former glory. They did (to the tune of $300,000) and gained immeasurable goodwill in the process. Strange, but in all the years of hearing about the Big Chicken and passing by the Big Chicken, it never dawned on me that you could actually stop at the Big Chicken and eat there. (Sorta like passing the Eiffel Tower and not realizing you can travel to the top; I suppose also there's a restaurant there). So yesterday I did. There is a display inside of various newspaper stories about the restoration of the BC as well as information about the location and how the BC came to be. Which came first: the restaurant or the chicken? There are also schoolkids' drawings of the BC. Inside, the restaurant boasts two posts or support pillars which, carrying through on the theme, are made to look like chicken legs. Outside, the chicken's beak opens and closes! So I enjoyed my first visit to the Big Chicken and look forward to many more! I even bought a souvenir Big Chicken coffee cup.