14 Corbin restaurants participating in Finger Lickin' Chicken Week

Jarrod Mills, The Times-Tribune, Corbin, Ky.
·3 min read

Jan. 14—CORBIN — After taking a year off from hosting the event due to the pandemic, the Corbin Tourism Commission is partnering with the Times-Tribune once again to bring back the week-long popular foodie event, Finger Lickin' Chicken Week.

"We're starting January with a bang," Corbin Tourism Executive Director and Downtown Manager Maggy Monhollen told members of the tourism commission during its monthly meeting Tuesday while discussing the upcoming event that pays homage to Corbin's history as the birthplace of Kentucky Fired Chicken.

Scheduled for the week of January 17-22 this year, Finger Lickin' Chicken Week was created as an annual opportunity to highlight local restaurants while drawing visitors into the City of Corbin and its downtown area.

"One of the best things about Corbin is just that small-town community and Main Street definitely has a lot of that," noted Summer Messer, a manager at You and Me Coffee and Tea, when asked why the coffee shop was participating in Chicken Week. Messer also mentioned how Chicken Week offers the opportunity for new guests to try something new at a place they may have not visited before.

"It's definitely a great way to provide some variety downtown," Messer said. "People can come in, try the coffee maybe for the first time, but it also just kind of gets everybody to come downtown and kind of hangout for a little bit."

Started as the successor of another favorite Corbin-based foodie event Burger Week, Finger Lickin' Chicken Week works in a similar fashion, seeing local restaurants offer creative and unique dishes at a fixed $6 price point with chicken acting as the main ingredient of the dish.

Monhollen told the members of the tourism board she believed this year's Finger Lickin' Chicken Week could be the biggest one since its inception, as this year's event will feature more restaurants than ever before. In total, 14 of Corbin's restaurants will be participating in this year's event.

Those downtown restaurants joining You and Me Coffee & Tea are Bree's on Main, The Depot, the Caboose Sports Tavern, Seasons, Si Señor, Travis' Cafe, Austin City Saloon, Wrigley Taproom & Eatery, and Sweeties Ice Cream. Bubby's BBQ and Santa Fe located on the Cumberland Falls Highway, along with Old Town Grill on US 25-E and the Ice House located on KY 26 round out the list of participating restaurants.

Each restaurant will feature custom dishes from chicken paninis to chicken nacho supreme. The event's menu also has the Hot Honey Nuggies dish from the Wrigley, which were featured on the Food Network's American Restaurant Battle last year. The episode featuring the Wrigley and its dish are available for streaming on Amazon.

This year's Chicken Week will also feature Austin City Saloon's Clucken Hot Chicken Challenge which requires guests to sign a waiver before eating, as well as two of Bubby's BBQ Chicken County Style Biscuits and more.

"My wife got on to me," joked Mark Shepherd, who owns Bubby's and co-owns Bree's with his wife Michelle. "She says nobody's going to eat a chicken biscuit at supper, but they do," he added, noting that he wanted to provide a dish different from the twist on chicken sandwiches Bubby's has produced in previous Chicken Weeks.

As to why Shepherd and his restaurants continue to participate in foodie events like Chicken Week, Shepherd said it came down to a sense of community. He said it shouldn't even be a thought for businesses and organizations within the community to come together and help support something that benefits everyone.

"We're all in this together," he said, later adding, "Maggy does a good job. I think Chicken Week and Burger Week are the best two things we've got going."