Disco Chicken offers late-night eats, rooftops views in downtown Rockford
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A new restaurant with electronic music vibes, late-night hours and rooftop views has opened in downtown.
Disco Chicken, 212 E. State St., is the latest venture from chef and restaurateur Paul Sletten. He also owns Abreo and Social Charcuterie Bar & Cocktails in downtown as well as the Bad Humor ice cream truck, VeeDubs mobile cocktail bar and the food truck version of Disco Chicken that launched five years ago.
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The restaurant’s theme is an upbeat tribute to Sletten’s time DJing clubs, raves and underground parties in his youth. He started DJing two decades ago, and today part of the restaurant’s decor is retro speakers and fliers from shows of bygone years.
“This project for me is kind of personal,” he said. “It’s all the fun elements of my youth put into a business.”
A Pioneer DJ turntable is one of the first things you see at the left-hand side of the entryway. Most nights, Sletten plans to have a live DJ spinning whatever blend house, disco, hip hop, Italian disco or other electronic music that matches their personal vibe.
The kitchen will be open until midnight Sunday through Thursday, and Disco Chicken stays open until 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
“It’s really lively all day long,” he said. “It’s very open, it’s bright, it’s fast — this thing is built for a lot of energy, hanging out, an easy time.”
The space was previously home to 212 Grindhouse and before that Taco Betty’s.
Sletten was a partner in Taco Betty’s when it opened in 2017 until 2019. Taco Betty’s operated until late November 2021, when it was rebranded to 212 Grindhouse. The burger joint closed five months later and the space was empty until now.
The restaurant winds up three stories culminating in rooftop seating that overlooks the downtown cityscape including the Rock River, the Iconic Energy tower, Joe Marino Park and Rockford City Market.
“To look over the bridge, the river and all of downtown, it’s beautiful to have a bird’s eye view of it,” said Adam Viederis, who stopped on Thursday on its second day of operation. “For a good view of Rockford this is the best.”
The restaurant’s menu is centered on creative buttermilk fried chicken sandwiches and loaded tater tots. It’s designed for fast service of original sandwiches such as The Wizard, a fried buttermilk boneless chicken breast with Korean barbecue sauce, toasted sesame seed and cilantro-cabbage slaw served on a brioche bun.
It’s a similar menu to the Disco Chicken food truck, which started in 2019. Ariane Kuligowski and Viederis said they hadn’t tried the food truck before, but they put their faith in Sletten’s reputation as a chef.
“We’ve had food by Paul and we know it’s amazing,” he said. “We’ve been to Abreo and Social many, many times.”
The wall of windows facing East State Street and the Rockford City Market grounds have countertop seating with tables in the space inbetween. The second floor, which includes a mural from artist Brett Whitacre, has more table seating and TVs.
A mural designed by Joe Tallman and painted by Whitacre is also planned for the gray west-facing wall of the building. It features disco-like setting with a dancing chicken, robot, alien and a person modeled in tribute to Sletten’s late friend Amy White.
Sletten said the late-night kitchen hours have been needed for downtown, which had few options for dining when shows or sporting events end around 10 p.m. at the BMO Center or Coronado Performing Arts Center.
“We even saw it last night because nobody serves food past 10 o’clock downtown,” Sletten said of Wednesday night, the restaurant’s first day open. “At 9:30 (p.m.) people were rolling in looking for food.”
Kuligowski said she and Viederis hadn’t taken in the rooftop views since the restaurant was Taco Betty’s, and they said they were happy to see a downtown hangout spot return after a two-year absence.
“It was a shame just seeing it empty,” Viederis said. “We’re back.”
About | Disco Chicken
Where: 212 E. State St., Rockford
Hours: 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday
On social: Facebook @discochicken815; Instagram @discochicken815
Online: discochicken815.com
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
