I have a friend who suggested that we go eat at a place called the Rockin Rooster in Avery, Texas. It sounded like our kind of place so we took off to Avery to see what we could find.
The Rockin Rooster is a quaint home style restaurant where most of the patrons know each other. I even knew someone there, surprisingly.
My husband spied it the second he opened his menu……………Chicken Fried Bacon. Yes. We laughed about it and when we ordered (him) fried fish and (me) a hickory burger I had almost forgotten the plate of pork death. Then, he yelled out to the waitress, ” and an order of chicken fried bacon.”
I could not begin to imagine what this looks like. When she brought it out I was shocked to see that it looked like long chicken strips. It came with a side of gravy, just in case we wanted to stare death in the eyes a little sooner. Really though, it wasn’t that bad. Not if you like greasy and crunchy drenched in gravy. Rod gave it two thumbs up. I’m making a cardiology appointment as we speak.
He said it would be great for breakfast. Dream on.
Chicken fried bacon is one of those foods that you should probably eat only once in your life. Like bungee jumping or knife juggling, you take a picture and talk about it for years to come, but it’s really only for the brave.
The fried fish was really good, as was the coleslaw. I like my fish a little more brown but he doesn’t. This was perfect for him so he was happy.
I got the hamburger with hickory bbq sauce, bacon, and onion. It was hand pressed and more than enough for two people. Yikes!
We opted out of dessert. They had everything from blackberry cobbler to fried oreos and fried twinkies. Rod had taken in his limit of grease for the evening!
I tried to call Joy and tell her of the happenings at the Rocking Rooster but part of the charm of this place is that it is kind of far from things like cell towers.
To the left….
And to the left….
You may not be able to get any signal out here, but you can definitely get a good meal!
After that I used some smoked provolone that I tore into little strips to stuff the hot dog with. I used provolone #1 for the smokey flavor and #2 because it’s a firmer cheese that won’t melt super fast. This would be a disaster with something like Velveeta. Then I wrapped the hot dogs in bacon and used toothpicks to hold it in place. I put them in the pan along with some chopped onions, and let the bacon do its thing. And by do it’s thing, I mean make everything taste amazing!
The bacon didn’t get super crispy all the way around, and towards the end of the cooking process I took the toothpicks out so I could get it a little more brown all over. Then when they were ready I put them on a whole wheat bun, covered them in hot dog chili, and then topped them with those onions that had been sweating it out in bacon fat. 
In theory you should let it cool before you eat it, but that’s just not realistic!
