‘People would come from Germany to get to eat here.’ Alabama restaurant named finalist in Best Chicken contest

Published 5:40 am Saturday, June 26, 2021

One Alabama restaurant believes they have something to crow and so do its customers.

Crowe’s Chicken in Brundidge is a finalist in the Alabama Farmers Federation’s Bama’s Best Chicken Contest.

In announcing the “flock of four,” Russ Durrance, Alabama Famers Federation Poultry Division director, said, “These four finalists definitely have something to crow about.”

Around Brundidge, folks have been crowing about Crowe’s Chicken for around 20 years now.

Patsy Gibson, owner and operator of Crowe’s Brundidge, began working for Crowe’s in Troy when she was 14 years old.

“It’s seems like I grew up in Crowe’s,” Gibson said, with a smile. “I was very honored to be nominated for Bama’s Best Chicken Tenders Contest and I’m especially honored to be a finalist. I appreciate all those who voted for us. We work hard here and it’s good to know that people enjoy our chicken.”

If there’s a secret to what sets Crowe’s Chicken in Brundidge apart, Gibson isn’t saying but her customers say it is something to “crowe” about. Just up the street from Crowe’s stands a huge metal statue of a rooster made from chrome automobile bumpers. It’s the creation of Brundidge metal artist Larry Godwin. Some say, on an especially busy night at Crowe’s, the rooster will crow its approval of the Chicken tenders.

Brundidge Mayor Isabell Boyd has not heard the rooster crow about Crowe’s but she did say that people come from near and far just to eat at “our” Crowe’s;

“I believe, people would come from Germany to get to eat here,” she said, laughing.

Boyd said Gibson and her staff are to be congratulated for being a finalist in the contest and for their long and continuing service to the City of Brundidge.

“If you have a good product, no matter how small the town, you can be successful,” Boyd said. “We thank Patsy and her employees for their dedication and hard work and for their commitment to our community. They make us all proud.”

Joining Crowe’s as finalists in Alabama Farmers Federation’s Best Chicken Tenders contest are the Chicken Shack in Luverne, Bobby’s Restaurant in Eva and J’s Hole in the Wall in Bryant.

Gibson said the winner of the contest will be determined by a panel of judges that visits each of the restaurants to taste-test their best chicken tender meal. The winner will receive a plaque, cash prize, and features in Neighbors magazine and on Simply Southern TV.

“We won’t do anything different for the judges,” Gibson said. “Every day, we do our best for our customers and that’s the only way we know how to do.”