Several months ago, we made a trip to the northern Georgia town of Toccoa, hoping to photograph the awesome signs and buildings of Maryland Fried Chicken, but instead only found really good food. Only we would complain about such a thing.
I understand that in 2010, Billy Johnson took a chance on this most curious of franchises. (See our earlier story for what a bizarre mess of a corporation this is!) He bought the struggling MFC stores in the middle Georgia towns of Swainsboro and Dublin. The Dublin location was a much shorter detour on our way back from Saint Simons to Macon, only four miles north of I-16. I crossed my fingers, anticipating that we’d enjoy a pretty good three-piece snack, but hoping against hope for a chance to photograph the classic, eccentric logo and signage that had eluded me in Toccoa.
Success. And, what’s more, it’s in really impressive condition. There is some peeling and some rot in the building, but it is bright and shiny and exactly what I wanted to find.
I honestly don’t know that the chicken was quite as good as what we had in Toccoa – say what you will about their building, they are steaming – slash – frying some excellent fried chicken there, which is, after all, what counts – but this stop was all about taking some pictures. I may not have been paying all that close attention.
The sign, incidentally, was manufactured by Artcraft of Tampa in the early 1960s. May it loom over Dublin forever.
Some other blog posts and photos of other Maryland Fried Chicken locations:
Baking Me Hungry (Myrtle Beach FL, Sep. 1 2011)
Retro Roadmap (Winter Garden FL, Feb. 28 2012)
Stanleys (Augusta GA, Sep. 20 2012)
You can see all the restaurants that we have visited for our blog on this map, with links back to the original blog posts. It’s a terrific resource for anybody planning a road trip through the southeast!
Marie, Let's Eat! 
There was one of these in Macon a few years ago. Don’t know why it closed. The chicken was very good.
Thanks for writing! As mentioned in the earlier story about MFC, their parent corporation is something of a shambles. Their website still shows the Macon store as open, but of course, it closed years back.
The sign slightly reminds me of WifeSavers, a chain out of Augusta if they’re still around.
My friend owns an MFC in South Georgia! I need to go sample his fried chicken and write up a review. 🙂
Whereabouts, Mike? We might make it to Albany sometime this year, if that’s the one.
Cairo. I added it to Urbanspoon yesterday. There is one in Thomasville too.