Prohibition Chicken is the collaboration of Josh Babb and Sean Clavir (formerly of Musume, The Chop Shop and Chop Shop Live) and Chef Roger Kaplan (Restaurant Innovations). In addition to its great location, they chose Lewisville for the restaurant’s site because it lends itself to the old country vibe they were seeking.
Prohibition Chicken
201 W. Church Street, Lewisville, TX 75057
www.prohibitionchicken.com
The dining room is wonderfully rustic yet chic. The walls are covered in wood and the comfy booths are covered in flour sacks.
Rustic interior with natural lighting. Check out the phone booth door leading to the speakeasy.
The front dining room features a wall of casks that can be converted into an indoor stage!There is a bar with indoor and outdoor seating. The patio offers a great setting to enjoy your yummy food while listening to live music.
Okay, enough about the pretty things and onto the tasty things! The menu is simple but substantial. The offerings include chicken four ways: crispy fried, hot chili-fried, pecan smoked or smoked fried. In addition to chicken, they also offer tri-tip and hickory grilled trout. We were all about the chicken! We ordered the crispy fried and the pecan smoked. Both were aces! I started with the fried and the crispy batter was full-flavored and the chicken was juicy. But the pecan smoked was out of this world. Oh. My. Goodness. Tender, smoky and juicy. As I was eating I kept thinking to myself how good the leftovers would be in a homemade chicken salad! The chicken is served with “The Sops”. My favorites were the Roasted Jalapeño Sawmill Cream Gravy and the Deep South White BBQ Sauce.
The Big Salad with beet chips, cheddar grit croutons, corn nuts and buttermilk green goddess dressing.
Cornmeal-buttermilk biscuits with honey butter.
The meal would not be complete without a breakdown of the sides…in two categories: cold or hot. We chose the coleslaw, mac and cheese, fries and green beans. The coleslaw was fresh and not overdressed with a wonderful taste. The Smoked Cheddar Ale Mac and Cheese was savory and cheesy. I could have eaten an entire vat of this goodness. To even out the mac and cheese we ordered the green beans. They were cooked fresh just green; still crisp and yummy. And those Black Sea Salt Kennebec Fries? Fried to crispy with the skins on and nicely seasoned.
We finished up this epic meal with a peach cobbler. It came out piping hot in a cast iron skillet with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. No canned fruit here. Fresh, cinnamony with a crumble top. Nice.
One more thing…there is an unassuming phone booth in the rear of the restaurant. This is NOT a phone booth. Enter the phone booth and dial the number given to you (I can’t tell you where to get the number….) and the back wall of the booth opens into a dimly lit speakeasy.
You read it right. Speakeasy. Other than the absence of a cloud of cigarette smoke, it is like stepping back in time. Old black and white photos decorate the walls, the dark, red glow of mood-lighting and music playing.
The speakeasy offers a pared down food menu and an amped up drink menu. Thirsty? Belly up to the absinthe fountain.
