A Commoner Reviews Chick’s on the Square, Macomb, Ill.

As I wrote in my last blog entry, I recently accompanied my son, the Young Curmudgeon, to Macomb, Ill., to tour the Western Illinois University campus.  Before we left town, we decided to grab an early dinner.  We chose a place I had not been to, and one that had not existed the last time I was in Macomb – Chick’s on the Square.

The Macomb Square is literally the center of the old downtown and still very vibrant.  Many boutique shops line the city’s square, which surrounds the McDonough County Courthouse.  And currently, the southwest corner of the square has a good variety of places to eat and drink, even more so than when I lived there. 

Chick’s is right off this corner on the south side of the square.  You can’t miss it.  The big yellow awning greets you.

This big yellow awning

As you can probably guess, their specialty is chicken –not wings, but lips.  And not real lips.  Think giant chicken breast tenders, battered, deep fried and coated with buffalo sauce or barbecue sauce.  A pair of lips is a small appetizer.  Four lips is a large portion, and costs $10.  But as the Young Curmudgeon can now tell you, four is plenty for most hearty appetites. 

He got two buffalo lips and two barbecue lips.  He took one of each home in a box.  Rumor has it, they’re great cold as a late-night snack. 

The rest of the menu is your standard bar fare – sandwiches, salads and appetizers.  Supposedly, the soup is pretty good, judging by a couple of reviews I’ve read on Yelp and Urbanspoon.  Sadly, their website is under construction.  Perhaps their web guru has flown the coop?  (Sorry, couldn’t resist a bad pun.) 

These lips are under wraps

While the Young Curmudgeon worked on his chicken lips appetizer, I opted to try the buffalo chicken lip wrap.  With one lip in each half of the wrap, it filled me up.  No fries were necessary.  The ranch dressing for dipping came in handy.  The buffalo sauce was what you’d expect (to be honest, I tasted the barbecue and liked it better – had a nice heat along with the tanginess).  

As for the atmosphere, since we ate so early I can’t speak for what it’s like when it’s busy.  But I can imagine it gets a decent crowd at night.  The bar area is centrally located, it seems pretty well stocked, and there are plenty of TVs around to give is a sports bar vibe. 

Taking in the atmosphere

When we were there, two very attractive ladies had started happy hour early and were enjoying a couple of specialty martinis from the bar’s extensive (well, for Macomb) martini list.  They did look quite tasty and refreshing, and I would have tried one if I was staying in town.   

   

Oh well, maybe next time.