Monte Ne Inn

The real chicken dinner experience, though, comes outside Rogers at a little place off Beaver Lake—the Monte Ne Inn Chicken Restaurant. Named after the passed-on resort partially swallowed by the lake, the low-slung building houses what could be the best fried-chicken experience in Arkansas. You’re seated at a table—with your party, or if you’re alone you’ll likely share with strangers—and food is brought out in bowls, starting with a crock of bean soup. String beans, corn, mashed potatoes, gravy and coleslaw are delivered, along with small containers of apple butter and creamery butter and a fresh, soft loaf of bread—and a platter of fried chicken, deep brown-red with a tight skin and an impossibly juicy interior. You need reservations if you go.