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 50 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!
Love Story
Welcome to Miller Time
Friday, February 3, 1989, my husband, Dennis looked up from playing a game of pool to see me (a 5’2 blonde, blue eyed girl) walking through the crowd carrying and trying not to spill a pitcher of beer. My girlfriend and I had gone out to dinner and then headed over to the Chicken that evening. She knew one of the guys playing pool with Dennis, and we hung out with them and drank way too much! We were married almost 15 months later (April 28, 1990) and are inseparable! We have the pleasure of coming back to visit the Chicken through the years (especially when our son was going to school class of ’14) and enjoy how welcoming young Ags are when we older Ags come in!
Gig ’em and God Bless,
Dennis ’88, ’92 and Peggy Hill
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
World's First
Wedding pictures
My husband (’08) and I (’09) are proud members of the Dixie Chicken family! So many memories and lifelong friendships were made.
– Lauren Diehl
1st official beer at the Chicken
Got a little story for you Ags…This kid was born and raised an Aggie!! This is my nephew Anthony Schimmenti, class of 2020! WHOOP! With the help of his Dad, Mark “Scoop” Schimmenti, Class of ’83, he has always bled maroon! Only fitting to have his 1st official beer at the Chicken for his 21st birthday! Here’s to many more family gatherings at the Dixie Chicken!
we fell for each other...
My favorite (out of many): In the summer of 1998, I met a woman in Austin, who lived in Houston, who agreed to come up to College Station to meet me for an official first date. We went to the movies (Armageddon), to Shadow Canyon (Shiner Park today), and then to our last stop at my favorite bar, The Chicken.
We sat down, grabbed a pitcher of Shiner, and started getting to know each other. I carved my fraternity/her sorority letters into the table. While chatting, listening to the playlist that probably hadn’t changed since 1985, and constantly introducing her to people I knew, we fell for each other. Maybe it was the music, the hardwood floor, or the unique ambience, but we’ve now had 24 years together, a wedding, and 3 kids. None of that would’ve happened without that date at The Dixie Chicken.
I still remember it every time I hear Rose Colored Glasses on the radio.
– Ryan Taylor
We’ve been married 35 years this year
One perfect summer afternoon in 1983 I met my future wife at the Dixie Chicken. She was sitting a few tables over playing 42, wearing a low cut summer dress with her perfect legs and big blue eyes. I decided I just had to meet her.
I talked my Corps buddy James to go with me to meet her. On the way over James stumbled and knocked the stove and stove pipe over into me. Resulting in me dumping a half-pitcher of Lone Star onto her barefoot. Classic smooth moves for two Ag major cadets.
Fast forward to Fall 1983. We were steady dating, she was a good catch because she could talk JD into a free pitcher with her big blue eyes. One night, she was sitting on my lap while I played 42 with my Corps Zip buddies Dondo, Terry, and Old Man ( Jay). I carved our initials into the tabletop inside a heart.
My nickname was Gramps. I got caught as a freshman one bitter cold morning in Fall 1980 wearing thermal underwear under my uniform at formation. Just like an old Grandpa.
My steady girl and I got married a few years later and raised a family. A couple years ago she went to The Chicken and found “ our table”. And it stunk, like three decades of spilled beer. And bought it. $$$$$. One of the best presents I was ever surprised with. We’ve been married 35 years this year.
The top is worn smooth. I calculated a minimum of 20 domino games a day, for at least 320 days a year, for over 35 years. That table was worn slick with over 200,000 domino games. The tables were old in 1983.
I cut the legs off and hung it on my wall. Our initials are in the lower left corner. My nickname is on the lower right side. Amazing they didn’t get worn off.
Love you sweetheart!
– Louis Peter
A few beers later
Marissa Tamble, Fightin' Texas Aggie class of 2013
The first story that comes to my mind as one of my favorites is the first day of my senior year at TAMU. I had a class before that ended around 1PM. My next class wasn’t until 4PM, so like any 21 year old college student on their first day of class, you might as well go to Northgate for a beer or two and let the time pass. My friend and I chose the Chicken to have some burgers and Shiner Bock. We got there, reminisced our time in College Station and how we were amazed the time has already flown by. After a few beers, it was time to head to our 4PM class. We ended up getting to class late, which sucked because we had to sit in the front row. As class went by, we realized this was going to be the most difficult class that semester and there wasn’t going to be much time to drink between classes like we had that day. At the end of the class, our professor made the day a little bit better. Thanks to having a few beers at the Chicken, being late to class, and having to sit in the front row, we ended up getting 100 bonus points for sitting in the front row. I ended up getting an A in that class that semester and I’d like to thank the Chicken for being part of that reason.
The Dixie Chicken will always have a place in my heart and is always going to be one of my favorite places to go to whenever I’m in College Station. Thanks for the “nights I can’t remember with the friends I’ll never forget”.
Gig ‘Em
Marissa Tamble, Fightin’ Texas Aggie class of 2013
College Choices
Every summer my dad and I would take a trip to Galveston together and after my sophomore year of high school we were heading back home to Dallas and my dad said “why don’t we go check out college station?” knowing that I wanted to attend A&M. So we jumped off 45 and headed to Aggieland. But instead of going straight to campus or on a campus tour we went straight to the Dixie Chicken. Had a burger and dad had a beer (of course) and we hung around talking with the bartenders on staff. When we finally walked out of the chicken, probably 3 hours later, we both were blown away at how friendly everyone was and how when asked about Aggieland and Texas A&M their faces would light up, you could just see how much they loved this place and how different the environment was. I knew right then and there I wanted to be a Fightin’ Texas Aggie. I didn’t need a campus tour, I just needed a visit to the Dixie Chicken! ????�
Today it is still my favorite place to go on a Friday night. My husband and I have played many games of dominoes in there and it will forever hold a place in my heart.
(Also worked at Chicken Oil for about a year in 2010-2011)
Brittany Coker ‘14
16 years later
I worked at The Chicken in 1989…. my last semester in Aggieland. Started as the daytime front bar man and worked my way to Manager.
At the time, I noticed a pretty little sophomore working in the kitchen with Janelle and Freddie, named Maria. Smiles turned into flirts, turned into dates and we spent a few months dating.
I graduated, we broke up, and I moved away but I never forgot that pretty girl I dated while working at The Chicken.
16 years later (2005), I get an email, “Remember Me?” and six months later we were married!! We now have 2 kids (Class of ’26 & ’28).
Ben Denison ’88
Maria Theologos Denison ’94
Archive
My family has always been Ags. My stepmom and brother both graduated there. As the only non-grad, I had to find a way to get there. As a firefighter, I was able to attend the annual TAMU fire school. When I became a Dad, I knew the college I wanted my daughter to attend. When she was in elementary and middle school, we made nearly every game we could. Each time we came to The Chicken.
At first, my daughter saw it only as “a bar where Dad drank beer.” But after her first bite of a Freddy burger, I knew she was hooked. Why you ask? Because I couldn’t get a darn bite! I bought it only as a hunch she might like it! Now. If we’re in town for a game, she will know the time the game ends and the time The Chicken gets crowded and let me know it’s time to go.
I’ve told her the history of the place and explained the names etched in the walls and th tables. After about her fourth trip there she snuck in a Sharpie and while waiting on our food, left our mark at the Chicken. It’s now or defacto place to go on trips there. She limits her dear old dad to two beers but states she’s not limited in her food choices or her places to sit.
As a single Dad, it gives me such an honor to pass on to my little girl, the sense of feeling that the Dixie Chicken is. For all of us that have inhabited it since it’s glory days and the gravel parking lot; we know it’s more than just a bar or burger joint. It’s a way of life, it’s a family dinner on Sunday, it’s the pace you see your friends, it’s the place you’ve shared losses and gains. More greater than that, it’s a place we call home. And the Beasley’s, Kristen and Troy, call it home too. Thank you for all the memories!
– Troy Beasley
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