The Old-School Diner Meal Only Boomers Will Remember

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Foods that we identify as Boomer meals are often considerably older than the cohort of post-WWII babies... just look at salisbury steak, which has its origin in the Civil War period. Another banger on the list of old-school diner foods that are no longer popular with young folks today is creamy chicken à la king. The very name puts one in mind of a regal repast, but chicken à la king is surprisingly down-to-earth. It consists of diced white-meat chicken studded with mushroom slices and bell peppers (sometimes with peas), all mixed up in a cream sauce. This concoction is served with your carb of choice, be it pasta, rice, or toasted bread. The concept of "chicken with sauce over a starch" is a timeless one, appearing in global entrées ranging from Indian tikka masala to Japanese teriyaki to Hungarian chicken paprikash. We even love a four-ingredient fall meal with chicken, rice, and "cream of" soup.

In the late 1800s and the earlier part of the 20th century, chicken à la king was reckoned a classy enough meal to serve at a society dinner. It gradually lost some of its rarified elegance as the 1900s rolled on, becoming a weeknight favorite that Baby Boomers would have been served by their parents or scarfed at their local greasy spoon. Some time at the end of the 1960s chicken à la king had completely lost its aspirational shine, and wasn't even popular with home cooks anymore. Foods are known to go through trend cycles, just like clothing or music, and it seems that chicken à la king hit a wall.

We'd argue that, while chicken à la king is currently associated with long-gone blue plate specials, the time may be ripe for the meal to experience a renaissance. Comfort food is always in style, and it's an objective fact that cream sauce, fork-tender chicken, and a downy base of bread, rice, or noodles are all classics in that category. In today's age of ubiquitous internet access, home cooks have unprecedented opportunities to uncover "forgotten" dishes that might have languished in obscurity a generation ago. If more millennial and Gen Z adults uncovered chicken à la king, we think that they would quickly add it to their dinner rotations. It's not time-intensive or difficult to cook, and it lends itself easily to shortcuts — we can see using a shredded rotisserie chicken from the grocery store as your protein.

Furthermore, chicken à la king has a lot of potential for dressing up or down, depending on presentation, making it as perfect for homey family fare as for the centerpiece of a dinner party. Served over fluffy biscuits, it hearkens to chicken pot pie, and is perfect for a chilly winter night. When refined by some fresh herbs, sherry, and/or rainbow peppercorns, it regains some of the fabled sophistication that it enjoyed, once upon a time. There's no doubt that the heyday of chicken à la king has come and gone, but it's also true that everything old eventually ends up new again, and we think this dish has serious potential for a comeback.