This tiny, historic Indiana town serves up 'the best fried chicken in the world'

OLDENBURG — Every day, thousands of people drive past an Indiana dive bar serving perhaps the Midwest's best fried chicken.

An exit off Interstate 74, about halfway between Indianapolis and Cincinnati, leads to a typical Indiana strip mall, then typical Indiana houses surrounded by typical Indiana trees. But keep rounding the hilled corners of State Road 229, and you'll find it — Oldenburg, the Village of Spires, so named for the towering Holy Family Church and its beautiful buildings with steeples hundreds of feet above the town's main road.

And in Oldenburg, population 647, a former 19th-century general store houses Wagner's Village Inn — a local favorite since 1968 and winner of this year's James Beard Foundation America's Classics Award for best local restaurant in the Great Lakes region of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

Another popular local haunt, the Brau Haus, serves its own specialty fried chicken just down the road. While both are known in southeast Indiana, it's Wagner's recent win that has put Oldenburg on the fried chicken map.

A comically large metal chicken invites you in. The restaurant is unassuming and dim, covered in wood paneling with light panels buzzing away in its ceiling and sports glowing on a few televisions.

In the kitchen, five or six 14-inch cast-iron skillets bubble away filled with the current menu's only main course: Fried chicken, lightly seasoned and fried in pork fat using an original method dating back hundreds of years.

Texture, not flavor, is the key to a dish that has attracted hundreds of out-of-towners in recent days, since the Beard awards were announced Feb. 22. The chicken is simultaneously crispy and moist, owing to the unique cooking method. Don't miss the sides, either.

Between Wagner's and the Brau Haus, the town stands against any in the poultry-preparing universe, said Daniel Saccomando, Wagner's owner.

"The best fried chicken in the world is made here in Oldenburg," he said.

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James Beard Award brings business

Saccomando bought the restaurant that bears his grandfather's name from his mother in 2020. A lawyer by trade and IU grad, he works 9-5 as a policy analyst for NASA's Glenn Research Center from his home above the bar.

He did not submit his restaurant for the Beard, probably the nation's most prestigious culinary award, nor did he immediately realize its significance. A friend and fellow Oldenburg chef first informed Saccomando of the win.

The news brought an immediate surge of business. A typical Wednesday draws 50 to 80 people, Saccomando said. On March 1, one week after his win, he served more than 200. About 600 customers flooded in on March 4.

"Everyone who tries it says it's the best chicken they've ever had," Saccomando said last week, propped behind his bar. "And it is."

Even Gov. Eric Holcomb is a fan. When asked about Wagner's win, Holcomb said anyone who has tasted the chicken should not be surprised.

"Their fried chicken has long been a Hoosier magnet bringing visitors from all over to Oldenburg," Holcomb said.

To keep up with demand, Saccomando has eliminated everything on the menu apart from the chicken dinner and essential sides: A half-chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes with homemade chicken gravy and German-style coleslaw for about $19 per person. No more sandwiches, soups or burgers.

"The whole town is pissed at me," he said of the change, "but it's the only way. I don't have salad anymore. We don't have bread. We do chicken."

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Wagner's chicken

Saccomando grew up in the apartment above Wagner's, where he now lives with his wife and child. Twenty-five years ago, before the kitchen was upgraded, the smell of fried chicken would float into his family home.

"I used to go to school and girls would come up to me and be like 'You smell like French fries,'" he recalled. "And I'd say I'm sorry. And they're like 'no, I love it.'"

He manned the skillets, alone, before he could drive. He took the evening shift after high school to give his mother a break.

Oh, the skillets. Don't even get Saccomando started on those.

"They've all been used every day since 1968 — even longer. They've been soaking up that grease and seasoning for all that time. They're (each) worth about $1,500, at least, but it would be impossible to replace one," he said.

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The key to perfect chicken is cold lard, Saccomando stressed.

Wagner's does not brine the chicken or dip it in anything prior to frying. The chicken is local. It is seasoned with salt and pepper, dredged in flour and placed into a cold pan over high heat.

It takes 30 minutes to fry a single batch of one or two half-chicken orders. As such, wait times can reach two hours or more during a rush.

"You never want to start with hot lard," Saccomando explained. "Those bubbles when you put chicken in hot fat is the moisture leaving your chicken. (If you start with hot lard), you boil off the moisture before the inside is cooked. And nobody likes that."

He swears the pork fat cooking method is healthier than frying in vegetable or canola oil, which he says are absorbed by the chicken while lard is not.

As evidence, he cites his family's longevity.

"My grandfather lived to be 94. My grandma is 91. They ate this chicken all the time," Saccomando said.

A boon for Oldenburg

But Wagner's is not the only fried chicken in town.

Cindy Ziemke, the region's former state representative, has owned nearby Brau Haus for 21 years. Her restaurant dates to the 1940s, though it did not start frying chicken until the 1980s.

"We are happily taking care of Wagner's overflow," Ziemke said. "We've had an extremely busy stretch since Wagner's got the award."

Both Ziemke and Saccomando insist no rivalry exists between the two restaurants. Ziemke started at Wagner's as a dishwasher for Saccomando's grandparents some 50 years ago.

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"We all work together," Ziemke said. "We get our chickens from the same supplier. We'll borrow back and forth from each other if we need to."

Ziemke said the award is a boon for Oldenburg, which was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The town was founded by German settlers in 1837 and named after the German city.

"We have such a pride of place here," she said. "It's a lovely town, and everyone in the town works to maintain it beautifully and maintain our heritage."

Jim Meyer lives across Main Street from Wagner's in a blue stone home built in 1840. The former history teacher runs Carriage House Antiques, which sits a little higher than Wagner's on the hill Main Street winds down. Since the Wagner's news spread, he's seen an influx of customers from all over the region.

The shop specializes in antiques with local ties, from vases and art from the Immaculate Conception Convent, now a retirement home for Franciscan nuns, to luxury furniture built in an Oldenburg factory around the time of the Civil War.

Together with Sister Cleo, an 88-year-old nun who belongs to the convent's Sisters of St. Francis, Meyer runs a small ice cream shop out of his store, the town's former bank building.

The octogenarian rides her scooter over from the convent, often with fresh fruit from Michaela Farm at the top of the hill, which the nuns ran for generations before a Cincinnati-based nonprofit, Greenacres, took over. Meyer and Cleo handmake every scoop. A sign above the front door displays their slogan: "We're old n' cold in Oldenburg."

Wagner's visitors have pouring through his doors to top off their fried chicken with something sweet, Meyer said.

"We sold more ice cream in three days then we did all of last March," Meyer said.

Wagner's future

At Wagner's, Saccomando is trying desperately to staff up as crowds flood his dining room. A plea for help on the restaurant's Facebook page offers prospective kitchen staff up to $25 an hour. Warmer weather also tends to bring its own cyclical increase in business.

Saccomando has spent the past few years updating the restaurant's decor and fixing the wear and tear of previous generations. He has curated an eclectic mix of music, from The Who to Ace of Base, to fill both the bar area and an adjoining dining room.

If he can expand his staff, Saccomando hopes to bring back the full menu.

Saccomando will not be able to attend a June gala for Beard winners due to the impending birth of his second child. But his staff has taken to wearing the win with pride.

Patrick Sanders, who commutes daily from Greensburg, is one of the few employees Saccomando trusts to man the skillets. He's worked at Wagner's for about eight months.

Sanders recently received a gift from his grandmother: A sweatshirt with lettering printed on the back.

"Patrick Sanders. Wagner's chef. James Beard Award winner."

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Rory Appleton is the pop culture reporter and columnist at IndyStar. Contact him at 317-552-9044 and rappleton@indystar.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RoryDoesPhonics.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Wagner's Village Inn serves Award-winning fried chicken from Oldenburg