Chicken salad lovers should flock to Red Rooster

Molly's Cafe has added a new location for their classic down South cuisine, a little closer to the lunch bunch crowd in the Vineville Avenue area. At Red Rooster, chicken salad is the focus. It's served finely chopped without too much mayonnaise.

In an interesting business model, this homemade chicken salad is mixed with various add-ins to create different flavors. "Molly's Classic" has celery, craisins and a special sauce, while "Tropical James" includes pineapple and pecans. There's also a version with apples and grapes, and one with pecans, cashews and almonds. There's even a "Buffalo" version with hot sauce, ranch, blue cheese, bacon and jalapeños.

Served on lettuce, bread or a croissant, the chicken salad is available in three combos: "One Chick" is a single scoop of chicken salad with one side for $7.95, Two Chicks is a single scoop plus two sides for $8.95, and Three Chicks is two scoops and one side for $9.95. A "Bidie" is a half sandwich or scoop plus one side for $6.95.

The sides are the most interesting and yet traditionally Southern at the same time. There's a broccoli and bacon salad, finely chopped with cranberries and light onion, and an apple and pineapple fluff made with marshmallows and whipped cream, a staple at every church dinner.

The marinated cucumbers and cherry tomato salad looked seasoned but didn't have a lot of flavor, and the cold macaroni salad with shredded cheddar was an odd twist on the hot classic. The homemade pimento cheese was very heavy on the mayo -- to the point of being nearly white instead of the usual orangey yellow -- but still very tasty.

For healthier fare, they have three salads to choose from. The Red Rooster, for $8.95, includes diced apples, pecans, feta, onions, tomatoes and grapes. The Henturk has turkey, ham, cheddar and tomato for the same price, and you can add a scoop of chicken salad for another $2.95. There's a little Bidie salad for $5.95.

Other sandwiches include a crab salad, a pimento cheese, a tuna salad, a tuna melt, and a turkey or ham with cheddar or hot pepper cheese, each for $7.95 with one side.

The day we came, they had two soups available. We tried the very tasty white chicken and beef chili (really more of a soup than a chili) but the creamy Irish potato sounded good, too.

Finally, we tried almost every dessert they had -- all homemade. Our favorite, by a long shot, was the individual key lime tart with a generous graham cracker crust. The molten chocolate Bouchon was small but rich with a cherry sauce, and the red velvet mini bundt had a generous dollop of cream cheese icing in its middle. We also tried the turtle cheesecake and a raspberry and dark chocolate mousse.

We overheard the owner say they will expanding their menu soon but for now it's a nice alternative for the ladies who lunch.

Red Rooster

Address: 3045 Vineville Ave., Macon

Phone: 478-318-9909

Website: www.facebook.com/redroostermacon

Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Saturday

Payment: Cash, credit

Smoking: No

Alcohol: No

Kids Menu: No

Noise Level: Low

Health Rating: 99

Price range: $6.95-$9.95

Rating: 2.5 stars

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 9:36 PM with the headline "Chicken salad lovers should flock to Red Rooster ."