The Chicken Basket began as a simple lunch counter selling sandwiches in a gas station along Route 66, operated by Ervin 'Irv' Kolarik, that was opened some time during the late 1920s.

Kolarik initially converted the station's by then disused automobile repair garage bays into dining rooms, which eventually became known as the National Chicken Basket; but by the mid-1940s, further demand made it clear that a new building was needed to serve patrons.

[1][2][3] Becoming an official Bluebird bus stop helped increase business for the Chicken Basket, as did the fact that patrons of the restaurant could sit by the front windows and watch airplanes taking off and landing at what was then Hinsdale Airport across the street on Joliet Road.

[1] The Lombardi family bought the restaurant in 2019 with the promise to continue the tradition by keeping intact the original recipe, service, and homestyle environment that makes the Chicken Basket.

The building and its classic freestanding neon sign were added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 5, 2006, along with fellow Illinois Route 66 restaurants Lou Mitchell's and Ariston Cafe.