The Indiana Restaurant That Serves James Beard-Worthy Fried Chicken

Few things in life bring as much pure, unfiltered joy as biting into a perfectly crispy and juicy piece of fried chicken. Perhaps it's the shareability — a whole chicken breaks down into 10 pieces, enough for a small family — or maybe it's the comfort factor of savory flavor that serves up the greasy nostalgia of home-cooked meals. And there's one small-town restaurant frying up chicken so good that it caught the attention of the uber-prestigious James Beard Awards.

In 2023, Wagner's Village Inn in Oldenburg, Indiana, won the foundation's America's Classics Award for the Great Lakes Region. According to the James Beard Foundation, this award is handed out to "locally owned restaurants that have timeless appeal and are beloved regionally for quality food that reflects the character of its community."

Wagner's Village Inn says it's been in the hands of the same family since the 1960s and the founders' daughter says her parents learned to fry chicken from another Indiana restaurant, Hearthstone, that has since closed down. But what's so impressive about Wagner's spot-on fried chicken isn't just in the recipe — it's all about the technique, which starts with basic ingredients and a cast-iron skillet (if you're on the market for one, this Lodge cast-iron skillet is the top seller on Amazon and there are tons of great ways to use it).

Chefs and home cooks everywhere argue over the best hacks for the ultimate fried chicken, from brining it to adding cornstarch to double-frying it. But Wagner's Village Inn has found success in a time-tested method: frying chicken in a cast-iron skillet using an old-school ingredient you shouldn't be scared to use — good ol' lard.

A post on Wagner's Facebook page says, "Over 275 years! That's how long pan frying in hog fat has been around. And, here at Wagner's, we still do it [the] old-fashioned way." While we aren't sure exactly where they got that number, frying chicken in lard does go way back. Classic American fried chicken is often attributed to African American influence in the U.S. South from around the 17th century. Other findings suggest it could have originated from the Scots in colonial times. Regardless, coating chicken in flour or batter and frying it in fat is a centuries-old practice that leads to delicious results.

Wagner's also doesn't exactly use a recipe — it's simply flour, salt, pepper, chicken, and lard. In their announcement, the James Beard Foundation reveals that Wagner's goes pretty heavy-handed with the pepper, which gives it its distinct regional flavor. On top of that, Wagner's has been using the same cast-iron skillets for around 60 years. As the saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."