Bill Williams Chicken House

There was another restaurant besides Ye Old College Inn across the street from the original Rice Stadium. It was Bill Williams Chicken House and I stumbled upon one of their menus the other day. I spent an inordinate amount of time studying it, especially considering that I wasn’t going to get dinner when I was finished.

This was tucked in the back of a scrapbook and probably dates from the late ’40s. Note on the cover page the politically incorrect evolution of their tagline, from “Chicken in the Rough” to “Chicken Savage Style.” I have no idea what the meaning of this could be, but after a half hour with the menu I’m pretty sure I would have gotten a regular order, all dark, and a chocolate malted milk.

The back page got a legitimate laugh out of me.

And yet I feel vaguely dissatisfied. I don’t know when Bill Williams went away but I wish it were still there.

Bonus: I had a fantastic visit in the Woodson this afternoon with loyal reader Deborah Gronke Bennett. We opened a random drawer in a map case and looked around for a while. I realize that this is perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea, but we had a great time talking about what we found in there.