Chicken Dinner

Forget buckets and cardboard boxes of chicken. The term chicken dinner refers to a sit-down, Sunday-supper-style meal served on a plate. Regional hot spots include Indianapolis, where pan-fried chicken dinners come with mashed potatoes, green beans, hot breads with apple butter, and, of course, pan gravy. In Rhode Island’s Blackstone Valley, vast chicken dinner halls serve roast chicken with macaroni shells in red sauce and thick-cut steak fries. Kansas City fried-chicken dinners likely will include chicken noodle soup and sweet little cinnamon rolls. South of Kansas City in the town of Pittsburg, chicken-dinner restaurants serve it fried along with tart-tangy German-ancestored potato salad and unctuous onion rings.