A Farewell to Rudy’s Chicken: Fried Gold and the Shutdown Shaking Dallas

News broke late last week that Rudy’s Chicken, a southern Dallas institution since 1975, is closing at the end of February. On Sunday, we went to check it out and were met with a line down the block and disappointed long-time customers.

Leroy Johnson was sitting in the drive-thru for about an hour, slowly moving along, and he still hadn’t even ordered yet. He says he’s been eating at Rudy’s since they opened and wonders why they’re closing. When asked, he said the restaurant has been consistently good, even as of late, despite some recent online reviews suggesting they’d changed.

Rudy’s is an icon in Dallas. In 2013, the Dallas City Council awarded Rudy’s owner, Rudolph Edwards, an $890,000 grant to build a new store with a two-car drive-through to alleviate traffic that spilled onto Lancaster Avenue. This weekend, the two lanes didn’t matter.

There’s a lot of fried chicken in Dallas, but Rudy’s is special. The tender chicken comes with two pieces of white bread to soak up red-tinted grease. Tenders typically sell out early. Every meal is served with a jalapeno, pickles and lots of seasoning.

Chandayus Cooper and Jaron Clanton have been eating at Rudy’s for 10 years. They tried to get one last meal on both Saturday and Sunday, but left empty-handed both times; it seems Rudy’s isn’t doing walk-up orders, at least they weren’t on Sunday.

“I thought it was a joke, honestly,” says Cooper. “And then we came yesterday, and the line was all up and down the street, so we got up early thinking that we were going to beat the crowd, and I guess not.”

With a laugh, they said they’ll try again tomorrow “because the chicken is really good.”

We reached out to Rudy’s to ask why they’re closing, but have yet to hear back.

Rudy’s last day of business is next Saturday, Feb. 28.