For a good time:
It may have started as just a bar, all those years ago, but it has been much more than that to many aggies. For over 40 years, we’ve been on Northgate, celebrating the big wins, knocking back a few after a tough test, reminiscing and reconnecting with friends. We’ve been there for the awkward first dates, the 20 year wedding anniversaries, the nights to remember and the nights to forget!
Still the best hire I've ever made...
In January of 1988 I was working as a Manager for the Dixie Chicken. During the week before classes started, a young woman brought her mother in to show her “The Chicken”. As they walked in the front door, her Mom noticed the “Help Wanted, Apply Upstairs” sign and told her daughter, “You need to get a job, go upstairs and apply”. So she did.
Just as she finished turning in the application, I walked upstairs. Peggy, the secretary said, “Larry, this is Beth Partheymuller, she is looking for a job”.
I asked, “Can you work Tuesday & Thursday lunch rushes?”
“Yes.”
“You’re hired, I’ll see you at 11:00 on Tuesday.”
We started dating a couple of months later, then got married in November of 1988.
It has now been 30 years and that was still the best hire I’ve ever made.
We took the family to the Chicken in January of 2018 for a “pilgrimage” to where it all started for us.
Larry Odom ’88 (actual grad ’91)
Beth Odom ’91 (actual grad ’92)
More beer please
This is what I'm talking about.
One time, beer. And then this other time, beer. The best part was when, beer. But then after that, beer. And then again, beer. But the crazy part, beer. In conclusion, beer. Nevertheless, beer. Will we be back? Yes because, beer.
Kasey Irvin
We have been happily married for 40 years now, and it all started at the Dixie Chicken!
Our love story began at the Dixie Chicken back in 1979! I had been standing in line that day to register for summer classes
(we didn’t have computers) and saw this gorgeous man in front of me. We were standing in the “S” line and he had “JOHN” on his belt. He was talking to another student so I wasn’t able introduce myself. I went home and told my roommate and best friend about John S. That night we all went to the Chicken as usual. When we walked in, a guy named Steve motioned for us to come over and join them because he really liked my roommate. When we sat down, THERE WAS JOHN S!!! We played 42, drank a few rounds, and became instant friends. We went dancing at Lakeview the next night and had a great summer together. Friendship grew quickly into love and he proposed in November of that year. We were married the next summer. Fast forward to 2009. My future daughter-in-law goes to A&M to take skiing lessons at Mount Aggie. She and her friend go to the Dixie Chicken. They see a bench that has been carved with “JOHN + DANA”. She asks if this is us. I never knew about it, but John confirms that he had done it that summer we met. It was still there after 30 years!! Last time we went there, our bench had been moved by the snake pit. We have been happily married for 40 years now, and it all started at the Dixie Chicken! 
– Dana Smith Swanson
Celebrated with Tijuana fries
Of the numerous Chicken stories that we have, our favorite, by far was the day we eloped at the Chicken.
On December 12th, 2015 my fiancé Shell and I had planned to elope under the Century Tree with a few of our closest friends. Mother Nature had other plans. It rained over 7 inches that day.
Since our plan was to head to the Chicken for the reception anyway, we decided to call the manager and ask if we could do the ceremony there also. Because there was only 6 of us they said that wasn’t a problem. The staff cheered as we walked in. We ordered a couple of pitchers and proceeded to the back of the room where we were blissfully wed. After that we celebrated with burgers, Tijuana fries, and pitchers of Shiner. It was the best day in our absolute favorite bar. Whoop! Thanks and gig ’em!
The pretty lady in the wedding dress is Pamela...
Marissa Tamble, Class of 2013
Archive
On September 1, 1990, my family was at the Chicken to christen my cousin’s ring. My boyfriend (now husband) dropped a ring in a pitcher and asked if I was ready to christen my ring. I was a year away from getting my Aggie ring, so I didn’t know what he was talking about. He pulled an engagement ring out of his pocket, dropped it into the pitcher, and asked me to marry him. The place went wild! I was showing someone the ring later that week, and a person nearby congratulated me, saying “Wow! You’re the one! I heard about that! Congratulations!” We have been married 25 years now. The Chicken will always be special to us!
Kasey Koenig-Edmundson
Spinning records and cheap beer!
Before Don installed electronic cash registers and before I had a single strand of grey hair on my head…my guess 1979 or 80… We were still spinning LP’s; had crackers in the barrel; a guy named Woodie who you most definitely did not want to play pool against; 75 cent Pearl, Shiner and Lone Star, 80 cents for a Miller Lite and 35 cents for Texas Pride….; oh and our imports were Little Kings from Cincinnati and Lowenbrau from Germany (actually Dallas)…. Donnie’s wife snapped this pic…
– Mark Rogers
I bought my first legal beer there in '76...
I bought my first legal beer there in ’76, when you just had to be 18. Worked for Don & Donnie summer/fall of ’79, when all the beer was iced down longnecks. 50¢ for most beer, Lone Star was 35¢. Wine coolers 60¢.
To his daughters: He used to have an office upstairs with a cute picture of you two with makeup all over your faces. He would use that to warn us about stealing and said: “When you steal from me, you steal from them”.
First Date
It was a regular girls night out. We (my girlfriends and I) always ended up at the Dixie Chicken for some Tijuana fries and Goodnight Irene to end the night. My friends and I loved to hear “Guacamole” by the Texas Tornados, so I went up to the front bartender to ask him to play it. I thought the bartender was really cute. I went back up there and asked him for a pad of paper and a pen. He threw me a guest check book and I wrote down my name and number, gave it back to him, and told him to call me. He did- that night after he got off around 4am! I didn’t meet up with him then because I was already asleep, but we did meet up soon after. The rest is history- that bartender, Mason Moore, is now my husband! We got married on Aug 1, 2009, had our first son on Dec 21, 2014, and are expecting twin girls in March 2017! Thanks Dixie Chicken for setting us up! Here is a picture from the night that we met. 🙂 (At least, that’s when I think we took it!)
Beth Moore
So many memories...
9 April 1997: the 10th anniversary of the day I got my ring.
As I did not get the opportunity to celebrate the day, I made the executive decision to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the day. An honest school teacher, I lied to my then department chair (he went to that other school in Austin and I knew he would not understand) that my sister (’94) was sick and I would be missing two days of school during the last week of the six weeks because I needed to go see her, I drove 8 hours through rain and hail to meet her, I dunked my ring in style, I drove 8 hours home the next day, and taught my classes the following day with a smile. To this day, when my head hits the pillow, I do not have any trouble falling asleep! WHOOP!
My sister Betsy ‘94 (left) and me celebrating the above mentioned 10th anniversary of my ring day.
-SG Cranford ’88