2007 N. Main StreetSunday was a travel day.
A colleague and I had been in St. Louis since Tuesday and we finished up with our work late Saturday night. We had planned on getting up around 9 AM and starting the drive home. But we were tired and ended up not leaving until 10 AM.
The drive from St. Louis to Kalamazoo is a little over six hours. It’s not a bad drive. It’s all highway so the time goes pretty fast.
Co-worker grabbed Starbucks for breakfast before we left town but I hadn’t eaten anything. I wasn’t really hungry and, honestly, I was just planning on stopping at Wally’s in Pontiac, IL to get gas and grab a sandwich.
The something happened.
As we were driving on I-55 near Lincoln, IL, I saw a billboard for a Loves Travel Center in Normal about a half hour up the road. That’s not really unusual but what was unusual was the restaurant in that Loves.
It was a Bojangles. And I was surprised because I didn’t realize Bojangles had restaurants that far north.
Bojangles in Normal is right off I-55 on North Main Street. The Loves Travel Center is a fairly recent development, opening in late 2022, on the north side of the highway. The Bojangles restaurant is in the main building on the south side. It’s one of three locations in Illinois but the one that’s furthest north.
I filled up the car while my co-worker headed inside to use the restroom. When I was done, I also headed to the bathroom then went to get chicken.
There is an outside entrance for the restaurant but there’s also an entrance straight from the Loves.
The restaurant is pretty typical for a fast food chicken joint. There is an order counter, and surprisingly no order kiosks, that is right next to a window where you can watch the kitchen make their biscuits from scratch. Even this late in the day, I was mesmerized by an employee with a giant rolling pin rolling out dough to make the next batch.
The menu isn’t very big and consists almost entirely of chicken. The last, and only other, time I have eaten at a Bojangles, I got full pieces of chicken. I didn’t even see that on the menu this time and I wanted something I could eat in the car a little more easily so I ordered a five piece Chicken Supremes (tender) combo with buffalo sauce, seasoned fries and a biscuit. The cost came out to just a little over $13.
This is a truck stop so there was a pretty large dining area attached to the restaurant. My colleague was in the car waiting for me and we both just wanted to get home so I grabbed my bag of food to go.
I started with the fries when I got back on the road. These are pretty solid for fast food fries. They’re not fresh cut but they are pretty tasty frozen fries that are little flat and heavily seasoned.
I ordered five pieces of chicken thinking I would eat a couple then wait until I got home and eat the rest for dinner. Guess what didn’t happen.
Bojangles is one of those places that if you grew up with it and move away from a place that has it, you miss it. The chicken is thick, juicy, and crispy. I had two cups of Buffalo sauce to dip them in but I was driving so I didn’t mess with that…also, it didn’t need it. I made the remark to my co-worker that this is not the gas station chicken I usually get…and you know I get A LOT of gas station chicken. This chicken is so much better. Maybe it was one of those things where it just tastes better because I can’t run down the street and get it but both times I’ve had Bojangles, I’ve really liked it.
The final piece of combo is the biscuit. All chicken restaurants have good biscuits but this one just hit different. It’s so light and fluffy that I couldn’t even pick it up for a pictures without it crumbling in my hand. It’s perfect representation of what a southern buttermilk biscuit should be.
That ends our trip to St. Louis. I was totally surprised to see a Bojangles along I-55 that far north. I lived in Peoria, IL for about five years and spent a lot of time in Bloomington/Normal when I was there. I was already kind of thinking of places to pull off at (Avanti’s was at the top of my list) but this one took me by total surprise. I’m super glad I saw that billboard. This is way better than the usual gas station chicken.