Catawba Forge & Drayton's Mill, North Carolina
Chicken Sedan
Fried chicken and a parked ‘58 sedan, since 1962.
Nobody set out to open a restaurant. Wade Pruitt just liked where he'd parked his car. Sixty-some years and three generations later, the car's still out front, the chicken's still hand-breaded to order, and we're still closed on Mondays. Don't rush a biscuit.
How a car gave a chicken joint its name
The car came first.
In the summer of '62, Wade Pruitt parked his brand-new Bel Air outside a shuttered filling station on Mill Race Road and went in to fix a flat tire. He never really moved it again. Neighbors started leaving notes on the windshield asking where to find him. Wade started frying up chicken to have something to hand the people who came looking.
By the time his wife Loretta took over the fryer full-time, the car had a name — Big Verna — a small reputation, and a line of regulars who'd ask for "a plate from the chicken sedan." The sign out front just caught up with what everybody already called the place.
"Best fried chicken between here and Asheville, and the only restaurant in three counties named after where somebody happened to park."
— Catawba Forge Gazette, Founders' Day write-up, 1994Off the menu board
What's good today
The Original Plate
Half a hand-breaded chicken, two sides, a roll. The one Wade made first.
$12.95The Sedan Sandwich
Buttermilk-fried breast, dill pickles, mustard sauce, on a brioche bun.
$8.75Whole Bird to Go
A full chicken, family-style. Call ahead — these go fast on Wednesdays.
$21.95Fried Peach Pie
Hand-folded, fried to order, dusted with sugar. Loretta's original recipe.
$3.75Two counties, one fryer recipe
Find a sedan near you
Drayton's Mill
47 Ferry Landing RoadDrayton's Mill, NC 28657
Opened 1995 by Wade & Loretta's son.