Chicken fried steak alert

Sound red alert! Raise shields! We are in full chicken fried steak crisis mode.

Robb Walsh, the eminent food critic for Houston's version of the Observer, a fellow member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, a contributor to the New York Times, and a man I quoted in my epic chicken-fried steak article a couple of years ago, writes disparagingly about Dallas-area chicken fried: "In Houston, Dallas and Austin, sushi is exceedingly popular; chicken-fried steak, not so much."

Apparently, he was steered to a couple of places that those of us who know chicken fried would not go to (places often frequented by young men who wear their caps backwards and call each other dude, D magazine types, and the like). What can we do about this injustice? How can we tell him about Matt's Rancho Martinez or Vern's or any of the other -- dozens ? -- of restaurants around here that know chicken fried? I feel a Backtalk event of some kind coming on -- perhaps 100 words or so about your favorite chicken fried, and we send the best entries to Robb?

Comments

[Norman Alston]

My favorites are either out of town, or no longer available. Matt's No Place had chicken fried veal. That must be how cfs will be done in Heaven; tender with exploding flavor. At Montana Restaurant in Stephenville, the cfs is roughly the size and weight of a manhole cover. The first time I ate there, I found a vegetable side I didn't know I was getting, completely covered by the cfs, which was already hanging off the plate.

Clearly, I need to go do some research and get back with you.

[Bill Cargill]

RIP Gennie's Bishop Grill. Gus and Rosie Hudson made the best CFS in the world.

[TG]

jeez, how about a nod to the SOURCE of robb walsh's story idea (which even robb acknowledges in his piece): our very own food blogger scott at dallasfood.org? to mention robb's piece and not even acknowledge dallasfood.org's series (which also ran as a cover story of the April issue of D magazine), well not only does that overlook an important LOCAL, it just puts you in the same category as the Dallas Morning News

[Jeff Siegel]

Dallas Morning News? Boy, that hurts. I was actually trying not to mention the site you cite, since it was criticized so severely. By the way, TG, you should know better than to say anything nice about D in my presence.

[DK]

Funny this blog just came up. The other day a friend of mine from New York asked me if I had ever had the best CFS in the country. Seems Ozona is getting a national audience somehow or another.

[Paula]

Your comment about the critic saying we're more known for sushi reminds me of how critiques reflect the likes of the critic more than anything else. One thing I have noticed about many Dallas food guides is that whoever is writing the restaurant reviews has no qualms about going to a Tex-Mex restaurant and then writing only about the one frozen fish dish on the menu rather than the popular Tex-Mex items. Those reviews are just fish, fish, fish, whether it's for a Tex-Mex joint or Italian, no matter. If there's fish on the menu, that is what will get reviewed. Now, if we were on the coast, I could see it, but folks, we're as far away from fresh fish as just about any state could be. So a reviewer foisting it on an unsuspecting visitor to Dallas is cruel and without conscience. Sure, restaurants LOVE to sell their customers fish (and cheesecake) just because there is nothing that is quicker to prepare, and they have to buy it frozen, so no worries about freshness. Because it will never be fresh here. It's the law. So in light of this phenomenon, it doesn't surprise me at all that Dallas is allegedly so "well-known" for its sushi. So I guess that means before long, there will be a Domino's Sushi or a Sushi Bell on every corner, if the critics and cooks have their way.

[Jeff Siegel]

Oh Paula, that's music to my ears. Modern food criticism drives me crazy. Often, it's almost impossible to tell if the restaurant is any good. I see fancy schmancy words in restaurant reviews that I have never used in more than 30 years of being a professional writer (who does a fair amount of food writing). I'll never understand it.

[Kris Scott]

Only been there once and not sure it's still open, but the CFS at Two Grannies in Glen Rose is stellar, along with everything else on the menu. There's also a place called Loco Coyote or some such up there that serves CFSs as big as John Mayer's head (and has incredible barbecue and is a totally awesome Texas whole in the wall that should not be missed if you ever get up that way).